Irvine Firm Considers Building Monorail at Airport

An Irvine developer is considering building a half-mile, $3-million monorail that would connect its office complex with the new John Wayne Airport terminal.

But airport officials, who say they have seen only conceptual drawings of the monorail system, warned that McDonnell Douglas Realty Co. must firm up its plans quickly--by the end of July at the latest--or there will be no room for a monorail in the airport’s $300-million expansion project.

“They have to move pretty quick,” said assistant airport manager Jan Mittermeier. “We are in the process of going out to bid now for all our terminals, parking garages and roads.” Once those contracts are let, it will be too late to add a monorail to the design, she said.

Alan Murphy, airport development manager, added: “We have a very tight schedule on this project. We can’t afford to delay it for any reason, let alone a private development.” The airport expansion project, which includes a new terminal and three new parking structures, is scheduled for completion by April, 1990.

The monorail system would be paid for entirely by McDonnell Douglas Realty and no public funds would be involved, airport officials said.

According to those familiar with the plans, the line would shuttle office workers along MacArthur Boulevard, from Douglas Street to the new terminal building, with possible intermediate stops at the Registry and Airporter hotels.

The monorail would resemble the futuristic transit system at Disneyland in Anaheim or Disneyworld in Florida, said Tom Stone, president of Transportation Group Inc., the Denver firm that is seeking a contract to build the system.

According to Stone, a single train pulling three 7-by-20-foot cars, would travel at about 15 m.p.h. between the airport and Douglas Plaza, the site of the proposed office complex. Each car could hold about 20 passengers, Stone said.

Officials from McDonnell Douglas Realty could not be reached for comment Friday. But they have sketched a monorail line into plans they submitted to the city of Irvine for two office towers and 150 apartments at Douglas and MacArthur. The office towers are to be 20 and 23 stories high.

‘Think It’s Super’

“I think it’s super,” said Stan Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Commission. “In that area, traffic is going to continue to be a greater and greater problem . . . and the fact that a private development is funding (a monorail) is perhaps the most appealing part.”

“I think it’s an interesting idea,” said Brian Nelson, Irvine’s principal planner, who also cautioned that the city needs more details before it can make any final judgment.

Richard Begley, project director of HPV, the Costa Mesa firm that is coordinating the airport expansion, said he believes the monorail might ultimately be extended half a mile south of McDonnell Douglas’ office building to other hotels on MacArthur or possibly around the entire Irvine Business Complex.

That complex is bounded by the Newport-Costa Mesa Freeway to the northwest, Campus Drive on the south, Peters Canyon Channel to the east and Barranca Parkway to the north.

“This would be a local distributor system,” Begley said. “The stations are too close together for people to take long trips. But it can get an awful lot of traffic off the roads.”