Two new proposals for Orange County housing are the latest examples of how dying shopping spaces are becoming a key birthplace for residential development.
Homebuilders are submitting plans to the cities of Westminster and Aliso Viejo that could produce a total of 1,529 more housing units on what’s essentially retail wasteland.
Today, finding undeveloped land with the possibility of home development is a rarity in Orange County. So builders and city planners are looking at reusing underutilized properties such as ailing retailing hubs.
This pair of proposals would build homes – plus spaces for new merchants – at high-profile shopping locales: the Westminster Mall and Aliso Viejo Town Center.
Westminster
Shopoff Realty Investments, an Irvine-based developer, last year bought two key pieces of the Westminster Mall and its parking lots with the idea of retooling 26 acres.
The idea, if approved, would put 1,065 rental units and 102 ownership townhomes on parts of the poorly performing, half-century-old traditional indoor mall. Plans would include roughly 10% affordable units.
These rentals will run from studios to two bedrooms and 600 to 1,100 square feet. The townhomes will have two or three bedrooms and average 1,376 square feet.
In addition to the housing at what Shopoff is calling “Bolsa Pacific,” there would be a site for “food hall-style dining,” a 2.5-acre park and a 175-room hotel.
Shopoff expects the city approval process to take almost two years with a groundbreaking in 2025.
RELATED: Developers propose 576 homes in Orange, some at the mall
“We are envisioning a vibrant center where housing, hospitality, retail and nature come together,” said Shopoff CEO William Shopoff. “This community will help to reinvigorate the local economy and bring value to the county and surrounding neighborhoods, elevating this prime piece of Orange County real estate into its highest and best use.”
Aliso Viejo
Big apartment owner AvalonBay…
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