Irvine Co. Details Plans for 3 Retail Projects in Spectrum

The Irvine Co. announced Monday that it plans to develop three new retail projects totaling more than 800,000 square feet in the master-planned Irvine Spectrum area.

The three projects, which will cost a total of $50 million, are aimed at employees of the hundreds of businesses in the Irvine Spectrum center, at the juncture of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways in south Orange County.

With the three new centers, the Irvine Co.’s retail projects in Orange County will total about 4 million square feet--making the privately owned firm the largest retail developer in the county.

The Irvine Co. owns the Irvine Spectrum, a 2,600-acre phased development that already is headquarters for more than 600 companies with about 20,000 employees. Firms located there include such heavy-hitters as Mazda North America Inc., AT&T;, Kawasaki Motors Corp. and Toshiba America Inc.

Irvine Spectrum is not scheduled to be completed until the turn of the century--when Irvine Co. executives estimate that it will be home for up to 100,000 workers.

“We’re developing (the retail projects) to meet those needs,” said Keith C. Eyrich, vice president of development for Irvine Retail Properties Co., a division of the Irvine Co. “The market is businesses and employees of those businesses.”

To attract employees of the Irvine Spectrum area, the three retail projects will be home to some discount retailers plus a heavy concentration of restaurants and fast-food outlets, dry cleaners, hair stylists, and business-support firms, such as photocopying outlets, Eyrich said.

Two of the centers are to be the size of a typical community shopping center, while the smallest is to be the size of a neighborhood shopping center. Large regional malls are generally 1 million square feet or more.

The Irvine Co. will be executive developer overseeing the initial planning, layout and design of the projects. It is working with two Newport Beach developers--SDC Development Co. and Hopkins Development Co.--that will be in charge of day-to-day construction.

Here are details of the projects:

- Construction will start early next year on the first phase of a 10- to 12-acre development at the corner of Alton Parkway and Technology Drive.

Phase One will have 120,000 square feet of retail space, including a food court, restaurants, a gas station and car wash, and shops. It is being developed by Hopkins and the Irvine Co. and is scheduled for completion in spring 1991.

The second phase is still being planned. It will include 310,000 square feet of retail space on an additional 30 or more acres, Eyrich said. Plans include discount retailers.

- Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 1990 on a 40-acre site bordered by Irvine Center Drive and Lake Forest Drive south of the Santa Ana Freeway.

Retail space in the project will total 300,000 square feet, anchored by discount stores supported by restaurants, business-support and neighborhood services. The project is being developed by SDC with the Irvine Co. and is scheduled to open in the summer of 1991.

- Ground breaking is planned in late 1990 on a 14-acre site southwest of the San Diego Freeway at Irvine Center Drive near the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. The center will include 120,000 square feet of retail space, with a scheduled opening in the fall of 1992.

Notwithstanding the ambitious plans announced this week, Eyrich acknowledged that none of the space is yet leased.

Even though all three of the centers are aimed at the employees at Irvine Spectrum, Eyrich said they are expected to draw consumers from a three- to five-mile radius.

The Irvine Co. also still plans to build a 5-million-square-foot regional mall in the Spectrum area, Eyrich said.

The Rouse Co., based in Baltimore, Md., is doing feasibility studies on adding a regional mall to the site and “working with anchor prospects,” Eyrich said. The mall has been on the drawing boards for at least 10 years.