Condo Towers Being Built in Orange County
Orange County’s skyward trend in new housing is getting another boost with the construction of two condominium towers in Santa Ana.
Developer Nexus Cos. said Wednesday that construction was underway on the $350-million first phase of Skyline at MacArthur Place, which will include 349 condos in two 25-story towers about a block southeast of the intersection of Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard in the South Coast Metro area.
Nexus also revealed for the first time the design for the towers, which were first announced a year ago.
When completed in early 2008, the towers will be the tallest residential buildings in Orange County. The luxury complex with a fitness center and putting course is aimed at empty nesters, retirees and young professionals, Nexus President Cory Alder said. “It’s not designed for children,” he added.
The towers overlook a man-made lake in the MacArthur Place mixed-use development. Units will range in size from 1,000 square feet to 2,400 square feet and will be priced from the high $500,000s to as much as $2 million for the penthouses.
Although Orange County remains a decidedly low-rise housing market, the Nexus towers are among dozens of high-rise residences planned or being built as land for housing development becomes scarce and single-family home prices soar.
Desirable land near John Wayne Airport in particular has been grabbed up by residential developers encouraged by rapid sales at the Marquee Park Place high-rise condominiums completed last year and the nearby Plaza Irvine still under construction.
Orange County condo tower development has so far been successful in part “because they have attracted some speculative investors,” said chief economist G.U. Krueger of IHP Capital Partners in Irvine. “It remains to be seen if these buildings will be occupied by real living people.”
Nexus will attempt “to weed out the vast majority” of speculators by demanding substantial down payments and requiring units to be held for at least a year before they can be resold, Alder said. And some local residents are in search of a more urban atmosphere.
“We have people coming here from Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas and Asia,” he said. “Those people are used to living in high-rises.”
