Council will hear development plans for Costa Mesa properties
Future development plans of the Los Angeles Times’ former printing plant and state-owned Fairview Developmental Center are on the City Council’s agenda Tuesday.
The former Times plant at 1375 Sunflower Ave. and an adjoining property at 3370 Harbor Blvd., which total about 25 acres, are being targeted for future development by their Los Angeles-based owner, Tribune Real Estate Holdings — a different company than Chicago-based Tribune Publishing, which owns The Times and Daily Pilot.
Tribune Real Estate is seeking a zoning change for the properties, from industrial to commercial. No residential housing is being proposed at either.
Two options are being floated — up to 564,538 square feet of commercial retail space, up to 669,082 of office space, or a combination of both.
The Sunflower property contains a mothballed printing press and now-vacant offices, first built in 1968. The Times and Pilot staff moved out last October.
The Harbor Boulevard property, adjoined to the Sunflower parcel, has a youth baseball field.
In anticipation of the Fairview Developmental Center’s closure, city staff and the council are planning out potential future development of the 114-acre property.
Their proposed land-use changes would allow up to 500 homes, public or private recreational facilities and a minimum 25 acres of open space.
State officials have not announced any development plans for Fairview once it closes, though a bill signed in June by Gov. Jerry Brown ruled that a minimum 20% of new housing units there must be “available and affordable” for the developmentally disabled who can live independently.
Brown has proposed closing the center by 2021. As of Sept. 30, the center was home to 263 people, though it was originally built for more than 4,100.
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Fair Drive homes
A Newport Beach developer is bringing his proposal back to replace a commercial building at 440 Fair Drive, near Harbor Boulevard, with new homes on the 1.66-acre site.
Before it reached the council for an initial screening, the proposed 28-unit tract by Steve Sheldon, of Sheldon Development LLC, ran into some hurdles with concerned College Park neighbors last month. In response, he asked the council to postpone the matter so he could host two community meetings about the project.
Sheldon, who also represents Irvine and Newport Beach on the Orange County Water District, is seeking a zoning change for the property, owned by Dennis D’Alessio, from neighborhood commercial to high-density residential.
The homes, which could sell in the $800,000s, range from 1,786 to 1,811 square feet. The 1960s-era office building there now includes Hotties Pizza and several massage parlors.
