Sale of Old Hughes Site Finalized
SunCal Cos. of Anaheim said Tuesday that it completed the $60-million purchase of the former Hughes Aircraft Co. site in Fullerton, one of the largest land parcels remaining in north Orange County.
Plans call for the 270-acre site, along Malvern Avenue between Gilbert Street and Bastanchury Road, to be developed primarily into a residential community.
“We have joined with the city of Fullerton to evaluate a number of land-use alternatives,” said SunCal partner Todd Kurtin, noting that city officials haven’t yet approved any plans.
One proposal being considered is a master-planned community that allocates 200 acres for 1,350 condominiums and homes and 70 acres for office and retail space.
About half the property, near affluent neighborhoods, remains undeveloped while the other half is where the Hughes buildings, mostly vacant, still stand.
At its zenith in the mid-1980s, Hughes employed nearly 15,000 people at the Fullerton complex, where engineers designed ground and sea radar, and air-traffic control systems.
But after its defense operations were acquired by Raytheon Co., the company was restructured and only about 1,000 people currently work on the property.
SunCal said a new lease would be offered to Raytheon that would allow the company to keep its employees there, but it offered no details on the length of the lease.
The city of Fullerton, which for years has tried to find a developer for the site, had hoped to find owners who would keep the entire parcel as a job-producing site. But the effort proved fruitless.
Exactly how much room is left for industry still must be negotiated with the city officials, said Paul Dudley, the city’s director of development services. SunCal said 70 acres would be left for commercial use, but Dudley said it could be more.
SunCal, a privately held land-planning and community-development firm, owns more than 12,000 residential lots across the state.
It is the developer of several large communities in Orange County, including Olinda Ranch in Brea, Pacifica San Juan in San Juan Capistrano and Serrano Heights in Orange.
A year ago, Brookfield Homes Inc. agreed to pay more than $50 million for the property and had reached a tentative agreement with Hughes shortly before it was acquired to build more than 1,000 homes.
But SunCal spokeswoman Diane Gaynor said Brookfield ultimately decided against taking on development duties, opting instead to become a minority investor in the project and having the first option to build homes there.
