Groups Bid to Reopen El Toro Base Housing

An Orange County advocacy group and a developer that have been lobbying the Navy to reopen military housing at the closed El Toro Marine base have submitted a formal proposal to the federal government that offers $255 million for the buildings and the land.

The group, named Ocmil.com for its website, and Tustin-based developer Affordable Housing Resources proposed the idea to Navy officials in October but had not made a formal bid.

There are close to 1,200 single-family homes on the base as well as barracks that could be converted into apartment units. The buildings occupy more than 400 acres on the 3,700-acre property.

Under the proposal, Affordable Housing Resources would renovate the units and rent them to military and low-income families, said Ken Lee, a spokesman for Ocmil.com.

“We could have housing units coming on line in just six months, and the rest would be phased in over time,” he said. The bid, submitted a week ago, also offers to buy the old commissary, a child-care center and other structures.

The proposal comes less than a month before the much-anticipated auction of the base, which has been divided into parcels for sale. The auction is scheduled to begin Jan. 5.

El Toro was at the center of one of the most divisive political battles in county history, over whether to turn the military airfield into a commercial airport. The debate raged for nearly a decade but ended in 2002 when county voters chose to zone it for parks and homes.

Navy officials said Tuesday that they were “carefully reviewing” Ocmil.com’s proposal but declined to comment further.

Preserving the old military housing could disrupt the auction and Irvine’s plan to redevelop El Toro into the Orange County Great Park, a master-planned community of 3,500 homes, commercial and industrial space and a massive park.

Irvine, which annexed the base last year and zoned it for the Great Park, plans to charge nearly $200 million in development fees to cover roads and other infrastructure costs.

If the military housing is set aside, it would significantly reduce the development value for the remainder of the base.