NEWPORT BEACH : Irvine Co., City OK Development Pact

The Irvine Co. and the city this week moved ahead with plans for hundreds of homes, apartments and affordable senior housing on four properties, including two prominent parcels overlooking Upper Newport Bay.

A new tentative agreement provides for $20 million in street improvements to be paid by the company and 152 acres of open space to be dedicated to the city.

Six months ago, Newport Beach voters resoundingly defeated an effort to buy the bay-view property known as Upper Castaways and Newporter North for $69 million, thus opening the way for these development plans.

Irvine Co. officials say that bulldozers may begin moving dirt in about a year.

“It is our perception that the marketplace is beginning to show signs of life,” said Tom Redwitz, senior vice president of the Irvine Co.

The development will fill in much of Newport Beach’s remaining undeveloped land over the next few years.

“This is the product of three years of planning and consensus with the city and the community and covers all of the significant undeveloped properties we own within the city,” Redwitz said.

The two most prominent properties scheduled for development are the 77-acre Newporter North and the 57-acre Upper Castaways, both of which provide an impressive view of the city, the harbor and the ocean and were the subject of the November election to preserve them. Those two sites someday will house 363 townhomes, athletic fields, view parks and open space to be dedicated to the city.

The Irvine Co. plan involves two other sites: 16 acres of the Lower Bayview Landing near Backbay Drive, where senior housing is planned, and 21 acres near San Diego Creek South north of University Drive, where a 300-unit apartment complex is planned.

The plan also address other Irvine Co.-owned properties scattered throughout the city. The entire scope of planning includes construction of 956 homes and apartments, 100,000 square feet of commercial space and 120 units of affordable senior citizen housing.

“There is high demand for affordable housing room from both the city and community,” Redwitz said. The Irvine Co. announced this week that it is attempting to find a nonprofit organization to help with plans for the affordable housing units.

The Irvine Co. has approval in concept from the city and the California Coastal Commission for its development plans but must get new approvals from both bodies when streets and lots actually are mapped.