socal78
Well-known member
The streets of Irvine & O.C. may get a lot more crowded soon, with some 2,000 RV owners needing to make alternate arrangements for their vehicles a.s.a.p. According to the article, California law says it is allowed so long as the vehicle is moved every 72 hours.
Hundreds of RV owners displaced as Great Park storage site readies for closure
IRVINE For more than a decade, Huntington Beach resident Ted Deits has been spreading the word about the inevitable closure of the 2,000-vehicle storage lot at the former El Toro Marine base to make way for the buildout of the Great Park.
When Deits first heard the rumors, he began looking into opening his own storage site in Orange County. Stymied by a lack of affordable land, he headed to Riverside County and opened Eucalyptus at Beaumont, where customers could buy, rather than rent, RV storage garages.
Now it?s no rumor. Flying Bull RV Storage is set to close by Jan. 31. About 1,000 spaces have emptied in the past two months, according to co-owner Kevin Ingley, intensifying the demand for storage space in Southern California.
?If I had 100 units to sell today, I?d probably sell out in six months,? Deits said. But the 107 garages at Eucalyptus are already owned, although a few customers are looking to resell, he said.
Bob Morton of Aliso Viejo pays $85 monthly to store his desert racer at the 110-acre storage lot at the Great Park. He hasn?t yet found a convenient space, he said.
?It?s a bummer it?s closing,? he said. Indoor storage is available, but costs hundreds more, he added.
Flying Bull RV Storage is one of several tenants that have had short-term leases with the expectation they would have to relocate as construction of the Great Park continues. Tierra Verde Industries, a green-waste composter, is another of those tenants.
A portion of the land where the RVs sit today is among the 688 acres being developed by FivePoint with sports fields and other recreational amenities for the city of Irvine, in exchange for permission to build more houses around the park.
But the majority of the acreage is slated for a state veterans cemetery. That proposal is being put together by the California Department of Veterans Affairs, or CalVet. In 2016 an application will go to the federal Department of Veterans Affairs for funds to build and operate the cemetery.
Ingley?s company took over the site from All Star Services in 2013, knowing it had a limited lifespan, but nevertheless seeing a good business opportunity.
?We took a struggling operation and made it into a positive thing,? he said. ?We filled the place out. Coincidentally, that?s when we got the notice to start moving people out.?
Ingley said neither he nor his customers were ever misled. The lease was month-to-month.
?We knew it would eventually come to an end,? he said.
Ingley said he and his staff are doing all they can to help customers who are being displaced, compiling long lists of other storage sites and organizing them by distance from Flying Bull.
However, with about half the lot vacated so far, ?we?re having trouble finding anything local,? he said.
According to a recorded message for prospective customers who call Irvine RV Storage, near the Great Park at Barranca Parkway and Sand Canyon Avenue, no spaces are available and no names are being added to the waitlist.
Rob Williams, a Lake Forest resident who has stored his 36-foot Bounder at the lot for about two years, is among the hundreds still at the lot. In addition to RVs, the lot houses vintage cars, decommissioned military vehicles and boats.
He said others have told him they are headed to the Inland Empire, where storage is less expensive. It?s unclear how many of those who have left Flying Bull have found spots in Orange County, and how many have gone further afield.
Williams was disappointed when he heard the lot would close. He has spent recent months gutting, then rebuilding the interior of his motorhome at Flying Bull.
However, there?s a silver lining for the Vietnam War veteran, who bought the RV with the intention of eventually moving into it and traveling the state. At month?s end, he plans to do just that.
?I?ve been dragging my feet, but this forced my hand,? he said.
Jim Wessling, who also lives in Lake Forest, paid $168 monthly to store his 40-foot vehicle at the former El Toro air base. He has stored his vehicle ? and the 30-footer he previously owned ? at the Great Park lot for more than five years.
Thanks to getting word of the closure before official notice went out, he said he lucked into a space at Irvine RV Storage for a similar price. Others looking for a space have told him they have seen rental prices increase.
Wessling?s back-up plan was to park on a neighborhood street, and as required by California law, move the vehicle each 72 hours.
As affordable, nearby options peter out, ?a lot of people are talking to people who have space at their house that?s not being used,? he said. ?I?m afraid that there are going to be a lot of people parking on the street.?
In the meantime, Flying Bull staff has expanded the radius in which they are seeking other storage options.
?In some respects, six months is a long time, but with 2,000 people and limited space...we are on track but we know it?s going to become more difficult,? Ingley said.
This month he plans to provide the city with an update on the lot?s progress in emptying its spaces.
?I wish we could keep going forever,? he said. ?It?s not a surprise it?s happening, it?s just unfortunate it?s happening. It?s difficult for everybody involved.?
The Flying Bull closure and increasing shortages of RV storage spaces come as purchases of RVs have risen to pre-recession levels, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.
Shipments this year are expected to reach about 365,000 units, the highest total since 2006, the association reported.
In January, shipments totaled 28,494 units, 11 percent more than the same month in 2014, and the largest January total in nine years, according to the association.
Even as the broader RV market heats up, owners in Orange County are being squeezed as storage availability shrinks, Deits said.
Although the CalVet application for federal funds to build the proposed cemetery won?t be submitted until July, the overall development of the park is ramping up.
Houses in Beacon Park, the second Great Park Neighborhoods community, and Irvine Unified School District?s new campus, Portola High School, are visible from the storage lot. An as-of-yet unnamed road is slated to run through the property as the former base continues a slow transformation into a regional park.
The impetus to drive off the El Toro site will soon increase. Flying Bull is raising prices by $30 next month, then by $60 as the customer base shrinks. Even if the company establishes operations elsewhere, they don?t expect to be able to accommodate all the Flying Bull customers being displaced.
At Deits? lot in Beaumont, 40 percent of purchasers are from Orange County, he said ? an indication of the distances residents are already going to find storage.
?If you have to spend $300 to $400 a month just to store your RV, on top of a $1,000 mortgage payment, it becomes prohibitive,? he said. ?And you certainly can?t park it at home.?
He predicted prices at storage centers near the former base wlll go up as much as 40 percent as businesses take advantage of the exodus.
?There?s no new RV storage being built in Orange County that I?m aware of, and I doubt there ever will be,? Deits said. ?It?s a conundrum.?
Contact the writer: 714-796-2221 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
Hundreds of RV owners displaced as Great Park storage site readies for closure
IRVINE For more than a decade, Huntington Beach resident Ted Deits has been spreading the word about the inevitable closure of the 2,000-vehicle storage lot at the former El Toro Marine base to make way for the buildout of the Great Park.
When Deits first heard the rumors, he began looking into opening his own storage site in Orange County. Stymied by a lack of affordable land, he headed to Riverside County and opened Eucalyptus at Beaumont, where customers could buy, rather than rent, RV storage garages.
Now it?s no rumor. Flying Bull RV Storage is set to close by Jan. 31. About 1,000 spaces have emptied in the past two months, according to co-owner Kevin Ingley, intensifying the demand for storage space in Southern California.
?If I had 100 units to sell today, I?d probably sell out in six months,? Deits said. But the 107 garages at Eucalyptus are already owned, although a few customers are looking to resell, he said.
Bob Morton of Aliso Viejo pays $85 monthly to store his desert racer at the 110-acre storage lot at the Great Park. He hasn?t yet found a convenient space, he said.
?It?s a bummer it?s closing,? he said. Indoor storage is available, but costs hundreds more, he added.
Flying Bull RV Storage is one of several tenants that have had short-term leases with the expectation they would have to relocate as construction of the Great Park continues. Tierra Verde Industries, a green-waste composter, is another of those tenants.
A portion of the land where the RVs sit today is among the 688 acres being developed by FivePoint with sports fields and other recreational amenities for the city of Irvine, in exchange for permission to build more houses around the park.
But the majority of the acreage is slated for a state veterans cemetery. That proposal is being put together by the California Department of Veterans Affairs, or CalVet. In 2016 an application will go to the federal Department of Veterans Affairs for funds to build and operate the cemetery.
Ingley?s company took over the site from All Star Services in 2013, knowing it had a limited lifespan, but nevertheless seeing a good business opportunity.
?We took a struggling operation and made it into a positive thing,? he said. ?We filled the place out. Coincidentally, that?s when we got the notice to start moving people out.?
Ingley said neither he nor his customers were ever misled. The lease was month-to-month.
?We knew it would eventually come to an end,? he said.
Ingley said he and his staff are doing all they can to help customers who are being displaced, compiling long lists of other storage sites and organizing them by distance from Flying Bull.
However, with about half the lot vacated so far, ?we?re having trouble finding anything local,? he said.
According to a recorded message for prospective customers who call Irvine RV Storage, near the Great Park at Barranca Parkway and Sand Canyon Avenue, no spaces are available and no names are being added to the waitlist.
Rob Williams, a Lake Forest resident who has stored his 36-foot Bounder at the lot for about two years, is among the hundreds still at the lot. In addition to RVs, the lot houses vintage cars, decommissioned military vehicles and boats.
He said others have told him they are headed to the Inland Empire, where storage is less expensive. It?s unclear how many of those who have left Flying Bull have found spots in Orange County, and how many have gone further afield.
Williams was disappointed when he heard the lot would close. He has spent recent months gutting, then rebuilding the interior of his motorhome at Flying Bull.
However, there?s a silver lining for the Vietnam War veteran, who bought the RV with the intention of eventually moving into it and traveling the state. At month?s end, he plans to do just that.
?I?ve been dragging my feet, but this forced my hand,? he said.
Jim Wessling, who also lives in Lake Forest, paid $168 monthly to store his 40-foot vehicle at the former El Toro air base. He has stored his vehicle ? and the 30-footer he previously owned ? at the Great Park lot for more than five years.
Thanks to getting word of the closure before official notice went out, he said he lucked into a space at Irvine RV Storage for a similar price. Others looking for a space have told him they have seen rental prices increase.
Wessling?s back-up plan was to park on a neighborhood street, and as required by California law, move the vehicle each 72 hours.
As affordable, nearby options peter out, ?a lot of people are talking to people who have space at their house that?s not being used,? he said. ?I?m afraid that there are going to be a lot of people parking on the street.?
In the meantime, Flying Bull staff has expanded the radius in which they are seeking other storage options.
?In some respects, six months is a long time, but with 2,000 people and limited space...we are on track but we know it?s going to become more difficult,? Ingley said.
This month he plans to provide the city with an update on the lot?s progress in emptying its spaces.
?I wish we could keep going forever,? he said. ?It?s not a surprise it?s happening, it?s just unfortunate it?s happening. It?s difficult for everybody involved.?
The Flying Bull closure and increasing shortages of RV storage spaces come as purchases of RVs have risen to pre-recession levels, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.
Shipments this year are expected to reach about 365,000 units, the highest total since 2006, the association reported.
In January, shipments totaled 28,494 units, 11 percent more than the same month in 2014, and the largest January total in nine years, according to the association.
Even as the broader RV market heats up, owners in Orange County are being squeezed as storage availability shrinks, Deits said.
Although the CalVet application for federal funds to build the proposed cemetery won?t be submitted until July, the overall development of the park is ramping up.
Houses in Beacon Park, the second Great Park Neighborhoods community, and Irvine Unified School District?s new campus, Portola High School, are visible from the storage lot. An as-of-yet unnamed road is slated to run through the property as the former base continues a slow transformation into a regional park.
The impetus to drive off the El Toro site will soon increase. Flying Bull is raising prices by $30 next month, then by $60 as the customer base shrinks. Even if the company establishes operations elsewhere, they don?t expect to be able to accommodate all the Flying Bull customers being displaced.
At Deits? lot in Beaumont, 40 percent of purchasers are from Orange County, he said ? an indication of the distances residents are already going to find storage.
?If you have to spend $300 to $400 a month just to store your RV, on top of a $1,000 mortgage payment, it becomes prohibitive,? he said. ?And you certainly can?t park it at home.?
He predicted prices at storage centers near the former base wlll go up as much as 40 percent as businesses take advantage of the exodus.
?There?s no new RV storage being built in Orange County that I?m aware of, and I doubt there ever will be,? Deits said. ?It?s a conundrum.?
Contact the writer: 714-796-2221 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
