Around the County

AROUND THE COUNTY

Orange County Business Journal, March 23, 2009
Orange County Business Journal Staff
Compiled by Kelly Ryan and Paul Hughes

ALISO VIEJO
Liberty Senior Associates LP has an application in the works to build 164 senior housing units. Plans call for one- and two-bedroom units in three- and four-story buildings, plus a 1,400-square-foot recreation center and a pool. Part of the project includes a 14,000-square-foot, two-story adult rehabilitation center and senior services center occupied by South County Senior Services Inc. The nonprofit will offer bus transportation to and from both facilities. The senior housing project has not yet been scheduled for public hearings before the Planning Commission or the City Council. Applicant Bunyan & Associates says it hopes to keep the project moving, but there is no word yet on a projected completion date.

TUSTIN
County employees soon will be moving into the Social Services Family Campus at Tustin Legacy, with construction done by June. The campus’ buildings include youth group homes, facilities for mothers and children, a duplex for transitional family housing and a building for early childhood development and medical care. Buildings total just more than 61,600 square feet. The architects were Patrick Sullivan Associates of Claremont and Alexander + Hibbs AIA Inc. of Anaheim. Patrick Sullivan was the main architect. Alexander + Hibbs did designs, drawings, specs and field support. The design amenities include a landscaped courtyard. The construction manager is the Orange office of Aecom Technology Corp. Los Angeles-based Woodcliff Corp. was the general contractor. The county says the facility helps it meet state mandates laid out in Assembly Bill 636, a statewide child welfare system improvement effort.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
An affordable senior apartment complex is nearing completion at the corner of Ortega Highway and Rancho Viejo Road. SEASONS II is a venture of MacFarlane Costa Housing Partners in Gardena and LINC Housing Corp. in Long Beach. The two worked together on SEASONS, a 1996 senior complex that sits adjacent to the latest project. The apartments will share amenities with the larger, existing senior apartments including a pool, spa and recreation and barbecue areas. The complex will have 38 one- and two-bedroom units. The total cost of the development is $14.4 million. Construction began last year and should be finished by October. Nonprofit LINC Housing has other properties in Buena Park, La Palma and Santa Ana.

ORANGE
The city plans to widen the Tustin Street and Chapman Avenue intersection near the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway to improve traffic. Still in its early stages, the project will include an added eastbound lane and an eastbound-to-southbound dedicated right turn lane on Chapman Avenue. It also will include a northbound-to-eastbound dedicated right turn lane on Tustin and bus turnouts for both streets. The project may require full acquisition of an existing medical office building and a Valero gas station. Orange is doing an appraisal report first, and it may take six months to decide whether to acquire the land. The project will start in late 2010 or early 2011, with completion 150 days from then.

STANTON
The city is getting a renovated Orange County Sheriff station near Katella Avenue and Beach Boulevard. The building originally was occupied by the Stanton Police Department in 1971 but has never been updated or remodeled. Demolition and reconstruction of the inside are currently in progress. Work is expected to be completed as soon as August. The station had an unused jail facility that will be converted into locker rooms. The cost of updating the 8,000-square-foot station is $2 million. The new facility will have an emergency operations center to handle potential terror attacks and natural disasters. The layout includes office space for investigators, briefing rooms, interrogation rooms and an armory for weapons.

If you’re a developer or city planner and would like to see a project featured in Around the County, please contact Kelly Ryan at ryan@ocbj.com or (949) 833-8373. The column covers projects in Orange County’s cities and unincorporated areas, and some projects in Corona. Commercial, housing and retail projects are the focus of the column. Some larger public works projects also are included.

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