2 of 4 El Toro Parcels Won at Auction
Lennar Corp., one of the nation’s largest home builders, emerged Wednesday as a victor in the auction of the closed El Toro Marine base in Orange County, winning about 1,100 acres of the 3,700-acre former military airfield with bids totaling $185 million.
Until Wednesday, Lennar had been the only bidder for the entire base, but the auction for the remainder of the land was continued to at least 3 p.m. today because of eleventh-hour bids by other parties.
The deadline for bids had been 3 p.m. Wednesday, but the auction rules called for daily extensions if bids landed on the final day. The format prevents a party from making a last-minute bid without giving competitors time to react.
Lennar will continue to pursue the rest of the base, said Emile Haddad, the company’s regional president for California.
“We are going to be very aggressive,” Haddad said in a phone interview Wednesday after announcing his company was a bidder in the silent auction.
The identity of the winning bidders will not be officially announced until the land is awarded, months after the close of auction. At least two parties in addition to Lennar entered bids Wednesday.
The late action enlivened what had been otherwise lackluster competition for the land, which is slated for development into a master-planned community called the Orange County Great Park.
The plan includes 3,500 homes, commercial and industrial space and an expansive park system.
The auction is being watched from Washington to Southern California. The Navy, which owns the land, and the federal government hope El Toro will be a model for base reuse as Congress prepares for a new round of base closures.
And El Toro, the focus of a decade-long battle over whether it should become a commercial airport, continues to divide the region. On Tuesday, Los Angeles officials who favor an airport met with federal lawmakers in their latest effort to halt the auction and failed.
The sale of El Toro to developers would further cement its fate.
The auction of the base, which was divided into four parts, began Jan. 5. But weeks passed without a bid. Last week, auction officials announced that Wednesday would be the deadline for bids.
Lennar placed minimum bids on all four parcels. The deadline came and passed on parcel 1, a 900-acre site on the northwest corner of the base. The city of Irvine, which annexed the base in 2003, zoned that parcel for 860 homes and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space. It went to Lennar, the only bidder, for $125 million.
Lennar also won parcel 4 for the minimum of $60 million. The 200-acre site in the southernmost portion is zoned for mostly commercial uses, including a 34-acre auto center.
Lennar was the highest bidder as of Wednesday evening on parcel 3, at $121.5 million, ahead of one other party. The 860 acres on the west side of the base is zoned for 1,500 homes and 150,000-square-foot of commercial space.
The 1,700-acre parcel 2 is zoned for 1,100 homes and golf courses. Three parties, including Lennar, were vying for that parcel. The minimum bid was $220 million. The highest offer as of Wednesday evening was $234 million, from Lennar.
Haddad said Lennar had partnered with financial companies in its bid for El Toro but would not disclose details.
The company partnered with Lyons Homes in 2002 to win the bid for nearly 240 acres of the closed Tustin Marine base.
The companies paid $208 million for that land and will begin construction of 2,000 homes in the next two months, Haddad said. Lennar also has projects at other closed bases, including Treasure Island Naval Station and Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.
