First Homeowners Have Landed at Tustin’s Old Helicopter Base
The first homeowners moved onto the old Tustin Marine base Friday, throwing open the door to one of Orange County’s largest suburban infill developments.
Unperturbed by flatbed trucks ferrying wooden roof beams across the 30-acre property or construction machinery rumbling across the street, the Gonzales family marveled at the new structure they now called home.
“This was nothing but weeds and tumbleweeds,” Wayne Gonzales said of the once-barren lot off Edinger Avenue and Jamboree Road. Now, it’s a brightly colored new neighborhood of 376 homes and quaint streets lined with young pepper trees and rose bushes.
For Gonzales, 33, Friday’s move-in came after two years of searching. She saw a sign advertising a planned community by a developer, called the phone number and put her name on a list.
“I’m excited. I think we’re pretty lucky,” she said, standing aside as movers carried her two children’s twin mattresses into their four-bedroom, three-bathroom house -- the first they’ve owned.
“This is our house now,” said husband Craig, 47, who sells industrial machinery. “In Irvine we’ve always been renters.”
“Professional renters,” joked his wife.
Tustin Fields I, as the neighborhood is called, represents the first redevelopment and reuse of the 1,600-acre former helicopter base.
Even before the model units were ready, hopeful home buyers lined up by the thousands at weekend sales events in February. Eight months later, some units are still six months from completion.
But that isn’t keeping the Gonzaleses from moving in.
“We’re sleeping here tonight,” Craig Gonzales said, surveying a master bedroom cluttered with boxes, pieces of a bed frame and an armoire. “I don’t know where, but we’re staying here somewhere.”
The Marine base housed blimps that watched for Japanese submarines off the California coast during World War II. Later turned into a helicopter base, it closed in 1999.
The space will eventually accommodate 4,000 homes and about 9 million square feet of office, commercial and retail space.
Although the Gonzales family is the development’s first official residents, 75 more homeowners are expected to move in by the year’s end, said Steve Kabel of John Laing Homes. Build out of this phase is expected by December 2005.
Of the 376 homes in the development, 155 have been sold. Market value for the mixture of detached homes, townhomes and paired homes starts at $500,000.
For the 78 units in the development designated as affordable, there’s a long waiting list.
Half have already been sold, Kabel said. They range in price from $75,000 to $299,000.
