A high-rise project bringing apartments, retail, restaurants, hotel rooms and meeting space to the historic heart of downtown Santa Ana is on the verge of becoming reality after a decade of dreaming, planning and public debate.
Developer Michael Harrah pulled 60 permits on Dec. 1 covering every phase of the mixed-use project, from demolition of an aging parking structure now lodged on the development site through outdoor lighting installation at the tail end of construction.
Work on the two-year, $100 million-plus project is expected to start next spring.
“We’re building a high-rise in the middle of Santa Ana,” the 6-foot-5 investor with the ZZ Top beard said during a visit to the project site at West Third Street and North Broadway on Dec. 19.
Pointing out the new OC Streetcar line and Fourth Street Latino district a block to the north and the trendy Artist’s Village a block to the south, Harrah exclaimed, “It’s in the middle of everything.”
The “3rd & Broadway Promenade” project will include a 15-story apartment tower, with shopping and eateries on the ground floor, plus a 10-story hotel.
Santa Ana’s once sleepy downtown has come a long way in the past 30 years. Renovated buildings, new apartments, bars, restaurants, not to mention the Artists Village, now populate the district.
The new high-rise project “is part of the gentrification of downtown that’s been going on for years,” said Ron Nestor of William Hezmalhalch Architects, who used to work in the area and designed renovations for several historic buildings there. “It’s going to enrich the area. … It’s a great location.”
The high-density, highly walkable project also is part of a regional and national trend, said Richard Gollis, a principal and founder of real estate consulting firm The Concord Group. Similar developments are cropping up in downtown Anaheim, the Irvine Business Complex and near South Coast Plaza.
“These major areas of Orange County are…
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