Posted on 02/17/2005 9:14:28 AM PST by NormsRevenge
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - One of the nation's biggest home builders will pay $1.05 billion to buy a former Marine base in Orange County after winning a six-week online auction.
Lennar Corp. will build 3,400 homes on the land, while a section of the base is also slated to become one of the largest urban parks in the nation. The Miami-based developer will pay $649.5 million for the base and an additional $400 million that the city of Irvine will use to create the planned "Great Park."
The company estimated that it will pay $1.2 million per developable acre, which Lennar regional president Emile Haddad said was "a market price."
U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Newport Beach, called the sale "a win for Orange County."
The Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, began operations during World War II and was closed in 1999. Some local officials had wanted to develop an airport on the 3,718-acre property but voters opted for a huge urban park in a 2002 referendum.
The city of Irvine, which annexed the land, set aside a portion of it for private development that will finance the park on the remainder. Local boosters say it will be similar to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco or San Diego's Balboa Park, with a mixture of open space, landscaped parkways, sports facilities and cultural institutions.
Lennar said the rest of the base will include residential neighborhoods, retail centers and industrial parks.
The sale of El Toro, which was divided into four parcels, was the largest online auction by the federal government in dollar and acreage terms, officials said.
The head of one builder that lost to Lennar in the auction said bidders were concerned that chemical contamination could be discovered during development. Steve Scarborough, chief executive of builder Standard Pacific, said there was also concern about when the Navy would have the money to complete its cleanup of portions that have already been deemed contaminated.
Sold!
What will happen to the blimp hangars?
Are they still there?
I remember many fond field trips from Kaiser Junior High School and Newport Harbor High to El Toro, touring those neat old hangars...so big they created their own rain clouds inside!
Ws
Just wait till they find Freddy the frog alive and well on the property...
ping
The Blimp Hangars are at Tustin Marine Base, not El Toro... and they're still there - and designated Historical Landmarks, so they'll probably stay there after the land is developed.
There must have been some furious bidding at the end...didn't think it would go that high.
Now who pays for the giant park?
Guilty of responding before reading the whole article...ignore the question.
Can you imagine what each house will cost just to recoup the cost of the lot?
Hmmm!
Really?
I forgot!
I know that we went to El Toro by driving up Santa Ana/Red Hill blvd., and turning right at the gates, and somehow I thought I remembered the blimp hangars being on that same property..
Sheesh, oh well, I graduated from Newport Harbor in '75 and haven't been back to Orange County for decades, but I'm still surprised my memory is that fallible!
Thanks,
Ed
P.S. I gotta' say my childhood in Orange County was the golden years. Hiking in Back Bay, picking oranges and avocados at all the stands, hiking in Silverado Canyon, body surfing the groins, watching foreign films at the Balboa Cinema, listening to jazz at the Studio Cafe, watching John Wayne throw candy to the kids at the Pavilion during the Parade of Lights, from his converted minesweeper, going into the channel on The Fury II from Scripps, buying fish from the Dory Fisherman at the foot of the Newport Pier, having big cookouts on the beach when the grunion were running, calling the Surf Report every morning to see if it was a green flag, yellow flag or red flag.
Course, my Mom's memories go back further...listening to Les Brown, Lionel Hampton and the Dorseys at the Balboa Ballroom, dancing at the Avalon Pavilion, taking the red cars to Watts and listening to good blues and swing.
Course, there was also the Zoot Suit Riots and working as a Rosie the Riveter at Lockheed in Long Beach.
She graduated from Newport Harbor High in 1923!
I gotta' go back to Newport one of these days.
The company estimated that it will pay $1.2 million per developable acre, which Lennar regional president Emile Haddad said was "a market price."
1.2 Million per acre, how many homes will they smash into one acre? Geez louise! I'm VERY happy I live in Texas - I've got 8 1/2 acres, with 1 house, and paid $240,000 for it.
Well this ain't Texas, pardner! LOL
And you can build a lot of townhomes on an acre of land in Orange County and sell them TODAY for 500K each...and make another 200K in ten years on your investment!
If ya like the music, ya gotta pay the band! LOL
well they saaaaaay 3400 homes, but you can bet that half of them will be "townhomes"...and you can stack a bunch of townhomes on an acre of land...the other half will probably be multi-million dollar homes with a southern exposure of the Pacific ocean...and believe me, they'll all sell like hot cakes on a Sunday mornin' and folks will roll them over every three to five years, making some series profit!
Is this a great country or what!
Number please? LOL
Wonder what happened to the B-25 they had on display there?
I think the marines called them a PBJ?
Camp Pendleton must be some of the most expensive real estate on earth!
Let's develop it and buy Mexico as a lending base!
Opps "Marines"
I bought 46acres in NM for $18000 just three years ago. I had to bid against the antelope... and jackrabbits! It cost me $80 grand to put a 1300 sq ft tile-roofed hacienda on it... including a well! It ain't kalifornia, but its certainly comfortable!
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