Planned Shopping Plaza - Irvine Blvd & Pusan?

E

eastdistrict

New member
When visiting a model home about 2 years ago, I heard that there was a planned shopping plaza on Irvine Blvd and Pusan (I forget if that is the exact cross street, but it is around there). Does anyone know or have any information on this? I pass by that area all the time and it doesn't look like any construction is commencing any time soon.
 
No shopping plaza, there were plans to convert the warehouse that stood there into a food court kind of spot, but the warehouse ultimately had to be torn down for some reason.

Instead they recently approved a large luxury gym at this location. It's going to be three or four stories plus a multi story parking garage.
https://cityofirvine.maps.arcgis.co...x.html?appid=2d663ab00d0d4eee8cbcd41a1bae0b93

Here's the description:
Life Time Athletic

An approximate 125,000 net square foot resort-style, members-only health club with adjacent parking structure. The health club will offer programmed classes such as spin, yoga, and pilates, as well as basketball courts, group fitness, training areas, on-site physical therapy, locker rooms, and five pools. Additionally, the facility includes a salon, spa, and caf? that are accessible to both members and non-members.
 
All those things are Covid restricted.

They should change it to more outdoor type activities... open air spin class... outdoor basketball courts.. etc etc.
 
Great Park neighborhood desperately needs retail especially a grocery store. Ralphs and Trader Joes in Woodbury serves basically Stonegate, Woodbury, Portola, Great Park, Cypress Village, and Altair. Way too many people!
 
irvinehomeowner said:
All those things are Covid restricted.

They should change it to more outdoor type activities... open air spin class... outdoor basketball courts.. etc etc.
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I'm not an expert, but I think because construction hasn't even started this building won't be complete until a larger portion of the population is vaccination and some restrictions have been lifted. If this business is even still in a position to expand to Irvine, they are probably thinking about the longer term. Plus, there's already tons of outdoor recreation facilities in Irvine neighborhood HOA parks and in the Great Park.
 
Cares said:
Great Park neighborhood desperately needs retail especially a grocery store. Ralphs and Trader Joes in Woodbury serves basically Stonegate, Woodbury, Portola, Great Park, Cypress Village, and Altair. Way too many people!
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Sprouts, Costco, 99 ranch, hmart to far of a drive?
 
Cares said:
Great Park neighborhood desperately needs retail especially a grocery store. Ralphs and Trader Joes in Woodbury serves basically Stonegate, Woodbury, Portola, Great Park, Cypress Village, and Altair. Way too many people!
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I agree completely, but I think with this location specifically since this project has been approved already this is what will be constructed unless the business decides not to move forward with construction/expansion to this location? I live off Modjeska so I would love to see retail that's actually functional for the community, but that's not what it looks like we're going to get at this location.
 
eyephone said:
Cares said:
Great Park neighborhood desperately needs retail especially a grocery store. Ralphs and Trader Joes in Woodbury serves basically Stonegate, Woodbury, Portola, Great Park, Cypress Village, and Altair. Way too many people!
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Sprouts, Costco, 99 ranch, hmart to far of a drive?
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It would be nice to have neighborhood markets that are walkable or can be biked. Those are definitely a drive for most of these communities.
 
It is indeed very odd for a master planned city to have no retail plans. I know e-commerce and covid are both hurting retail, but you'd think they could at least add a small center with a gas station, convenience store and coffee shop.
 
paperboyNC said:
It is indeed very odd for a master planned city to have no retail plans. I know e-commerce and covid are both hurting retail, but you'd think they could at least add a small center with a gas station, convenience store and coffee shop.
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Agree completely. I can get to Target, Costco, Ralph's, Stater Bros, etc when I need to. But I would love to have a smaller neighborhood retail center with a small market, gas station, nail/hair salon, dry cleaners, coffee shop - any combo of just a few of those would be a welcome change. Something like that is what I would have hoped for at the location in this thread instead of a large luxury gym that costs $200+ per month to join.
 
They need to collect property tax and Mello Roos. So building more homes is more lucrative.
Also, don?t blame the city. The rent/lease prices are not cheap. It has to be the perfect situation or good situation for a business. If I remember correctly there was a market by OH that closed down. (I forgot the name and too lazy to look it up) I think people were complaining about the high prices. But what do you want the business to do? Take a loss every month.
 
eyephone said:
They need to collect property tax and Mello Roos. So building more homes is more lucrative.
Also, don?t blame the city. The rent/lease prices are not cheap. It has to be the perfect situation or good situation for a business. If I remember correctly there was a market by OH that closed down. (I forgot the name and too lazy to look it up) I think people were complaining about the high prices. But what do you want the business to do? Take a loss every month.
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It feels like "they" are already collecting a lot of taxes. Our property tax rate is over 1% and we pay mello roos. I think this is true for every neighborhood in PS/GP so not paying taxes isn't the issue. Building more homes also isn't the issue in GP/PS...there is still a ton of new construction over here!

I don't blame the City, I recognize market forces and needing turning a profit on various businesses is what probably led to the lifetime athletics, I'm just noting what the City approved and that if we lived in a perfect world (which we do not) I would want something different at this location.
 
I heard on irvinewatchdog that they are going to build a Ralphs-like grocery store around the Great Park/Portola Springs area. Who knows when/where though...

This place is in dire need of a market. Woodbury is way too busy/crowded
 
www.ocbj.com

FivePoint, Irvine Plan Retail Developments - Orange County Business Journal

Local retail developer and operator Almquist has been tapped for a retail-focused overhaul of Irvine’s Great Park and a portion of the adjacent Great Park Neighborhoods. The city recently began exclusive negotiations with San Juan Capistrano-based Almquist, formerly known as Frontier Real Estate...
www.ocbj.com www.ocbj.com

Finally some news on this

The company recently drafted a plan for a grocery-anchored retail center planned at the corner of Bosque and Great Park Boulevard.

The project was originally located at the corner of Ridge Valley and Great Park Boulevard, but FivePoint and Almquist recently proposed to relocate it to the new site, which is immediately adjacent to the city’s Great Park project.

FivePoint CEO Dan Hedigan previously told the Business Journal the company was marketing the approximately 5.5-acre site “to experienced retail developers who are skilled at constructing and operating these types of retail centers.”

Almquist aims to make the site more tight-knit and pedestrian-oriented, which is “atypical” for neighborhood centers, according to CEO Dan Almquist.

“In a lot of traditional neighborhood centers, people are used to getting into their car to go to two different locations in the same center,” Almquist told the Business Journal.

“We want to create smaller spaces where people can hang out, like the mom in the stroller coming across the street, who wants to find somewhere to sit and let the kids run around.”

Tenants for the project have yet to be decided, though a high-end grocer is likely to anchor the center, sources tell the Business Journal.
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So the GPN is going to get one small retail center so far it seems. They need at least one other retail/dining space. There are way too many new homes in the immediate area for such a lack of retail.

Even in Lake Forest, their centers are so crowded now because of all of the new homes. And I can imagine that many residents in the GPN/Altair venture to LF to go to retailers since they're fairly close.
 
There is a lost opportunity with the actual Great Park park. It seems like putting up some type of retail in the park would be good for all the visitors whether it be for sports or whatever and for all the GP residents.

It's sad to see those pods empty all the time (what happened to those things?).

Even the condos off of Jamboree (Watermarke?) has a little retail center.
 
I think Great Park is totally unbuyable with no retail/neighborhood centers. Yeah I can Instacart groceries but there's no substitute in my mind for some nice third places.
 
Not sure how feasible this would be, but what is stopping Irvine and Lake Forest from connecting Portola Parkway in Foothill Ranch to Portola Parkway in Springs? Both roads end off abruptly at the edge of each city, and connecting the road would mean plenty of retail and dining options for PS and North Irvine residents. On google maps it looks like it could basically be one long road. It would be way more convenient that going all the way down on Irvine Blvd and then up on Alton, which is what most of us have been doing.
 
ratchet_resident said:
Not sure how feasible this would be, but what is stopping Irvine and Lake Forest from connecting Portola Parkway in Foothill Ranch to Portola Parkway in Springs? Both roads end off abruptly at the edge of each city, and connecting the road would mean plenty of retail and dining options for PS and North Irvine residents. On google maps it looks like it could basically be one long road. It would be way more convenient that going all the way down on Irvine Blvd and then up on Alton, which is what most of us have been doing.
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Maybe they want to make money from the Toll Roads for people need the convenience? And there's also the costs with leveling the hills to connect both sides. As someone who lives in Portola Springs, I would love to see it happen, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon.
 
ratchet_resident said:
Not sure how feasible this would be, but what is stopping Irvine and Lake Forest from connecting Portola Parkway in Foothill Ranch to Portola Parkway in Springs? Both roads end off abruptly at the edge of each city, and connecting the road would mean plenty of retail and dining options for PS and North Irvine residents. On google maps it looks like it could basically be one long road. It would be way more convenient that going all the way down on Irvine Blvd and then up on Alton, which is what most of us have been doing.
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This was discussed over 10 years ago and there is still no construction. According to @sgip , there will be no extension until The Toll Road bonds are paid off.

Extension of incomplete roads

Any idea if The Irvine Company will support Ridge Route Drive's extension over the Interstate 5 in Laguna Hills to connect with the Lake Forest Ridge Route Drive? What's at the dead end of Rockfield Boulevard? Also, what about Portola Parkway from the dead end in Irvine to Lake Forest? I know...
www.talkirvine.com

Portola Parkway

Does anyone know if there are any near-term plans to extend/complete Portola Parkway to complete the segment from Portola Springs to Foothill Ranch?
www.talkirvine.com
 
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