Irvine OKs Trammell-Crow Plans for Office Buildings

Ending a controversy that once threatened to bar development, the Irvine City Council has approved Trammell-Crow Co.’s plans for 1.5 million square feet of office space near Fluor Corp.’s headquarters.

The council’s 5-0 decision late Tuesday night was conditioned on the firm’s agreement to finance a new traffic study and deliver $10 million in developer fees up front instead of later.

Last November, the city Planning Commission decided that a 1982 environmental impact report that had been used to justify future development in Irvine was inadequate for Dallas-based Trammell-Crow’s proposed office complex. The environmental report allegedly was based on overly optimistic plans to reduce traffic, including the underfunded, embattled San Joaquin Hills freeway project.

The commission later reversed itself, but Mayor Larry Agran appealed the decision to the full council, resulting in Tuesday night’s decision favoring the Trammell-Crow project. After lengthy debate, Agran joined his council colleagues in the unanimous vote.

Neither Agran nor Mary Ann Gaido, the planning commissioner who had most strongly opposed the city’s reliance on the 1982 environmental report, could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Trammell-Crow Co. purchased Fluor’s headquarters site in 1985 for $340 million and then leased the facilities back to Fluor. Plans call for construction of two 14-story and two 18-story buildings near Jamboree Road and Michelson Drive and a six-story building and a one-story structure on the same parcel occupied by Fluor Corp.’s headquarters.