Irvine Company Plans to Convert Newport Beach Offices Into 700 Apartments

It’s no secret that Southern California needs more housing, and one of the biggest developers in the state has proposed hundreds of new units right in its backyard. 

Donald Bren’s Irvine Company filed plans with its headquarters city of Newport Beach to convert some office space at its four-building MacArthur Court complex into 700 apartment units, according to the Orange County Business Journal. 

The developer plans to transform 107,000 square feet of low-rise office space at 4665 and 4685 MacArthur Court into two five-story residential buildings with a combined total of 677,900 square feet of residential space. The firm plans to keep the two 15-story office towers at the 18.7-acre complex in place, per the OCBJ.

A representative for the Irvine Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The conversion plan comes in the wake of Newport Beach City Council’s July approval of changes to its general housing plan, which rezoned some areas and paved the way for more housing units in the wealthy coastal enclave southeast of Los Angeles. The state has directed the city to build nearly 5,000 new units by 2029, which is the end of California’s current Regional Housing Needs Assessment cycle. 

Rezoned land near John Wayne Airport, which is adjacent to MacArthur Court, will account for most of the city’s new units, along with land in the city’s Newport Center, Coyote Canyon, West Newport Mesa and Dover-Westcliff regions. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.