Buffalo Ranch Plan Cost Surprises Board

Refurbishing structures from Irvine’s historic Buffalo Ranch for use as offices and classrooms at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds would cost the Orange County Fair Board at least $600,000, an architectural study released Thursday found.

The consultant’s report also said that moving the landmark buildings would provide the fair with 16,000 square feet of additional interior space.

The Fair Board reacted with surprise at the high cost of the rehabilitation work. But the panel voted Thursday to continue negotiations with the Irvine Co., which owns the Buffalo Ranch.

The consultant, Thirtieth Street Architects of Newport Beach, was hired earlier this year to assess the feasibility of relocating ranch structures to the fairgrounds.

The firm said the fair should consider moving and refurbishing just seven of the 14 buildings on the ranch, including the well-known silo tower. Other buildings in the complex are in poor condition and don’t appear worth moving, the report stated.

It would cost between $600,000 and $1 million to transform the ranch buildings into offices, classrooms and meeting rooms, the study found.

The Irvine Co. agreed Thursday to pay for moving the structures to the fairgrounds, said Jill Lloyd, the fair spokeswoman. The consultant did not estimate how much it would cost.

Fair officials hope the Irvine Co. will also assist in paying for some of the rehabilitation work, Lloyd said.

The Buffalo Ranch--a MacArthur Boulevard landmark--was an amusement park in the 1950s known for its bison and other roaming animals. In the 1960s, the architects who designed UC Irvine and parts of Irvine and Newport Beach used the ranch as their headquarters.

The Irvine Co. intends to one day build homes on the Buffalo Ranch land. Company officials said moving the buildings is a way of preserving them.

But some preservationists would prefer that the buildings remain at their current site, saying the ranch is one of Irvine’s last remaining links with the past.

The Irvine City Council is expected to discuss the issue in May.