Golf Courses at Newport Coast Will Open Late

The Irvine Co. said it is behind schedule on completing two golf courses it is building at its big Newport Coast hotel and residential resort neighborhood between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

The company said there is simply too much work to do at the giant development, which will eventually have 2,600 homes, to get both courses finished at the same time. The delay is not related to the slowdown in the real estate market, company officials said.

“The decision was administrative-driven, not market-driven,” a company spokesman said.

Home sales have dropped dramatically in California and in Orange County since last year.

The golf courses were originally to open in July, 1991, before any homes or two hotels planned for the resort were finished. Now the course nearest the ocean will open in late summer and the second, a canyon course, will open later.

The company said land sales to builders at the development are on schedule, although the builders might be slowing their construction schedules because of the down market. The market has been especially slow for the type of high-priced homes the resort will have.

Four of the five parcels in the first phase of construction--600 homes--have been sold, the company said. The first homes--built by Canadian builder Bramalea California Inc.--are scheduled to go on sale late next year.

The two hotels--a Marriott and a Hyatt--are still on schedule, the company said. The hotels are scheduled to open in 1993.

Also delayed slightly are the sale of 119 lots to people who want to build their own custom homes on them in a neighborhood called Pelican Hill.