By Eric Engelbert
City Ventures Is Building 42 Homes on a Long-Vacant Old Town Site, Including 7 Live/Work Units
The 2-acre site at 14042 Newport Avenue in Tustin sat underutilized for more than a decade. A restaurant once operated there, but by the time City Ventures filed for entitlements the parcel was vacant, overgrown, and contributing nothing to the neighborhood around it. On November 21, 2023, the Tustin City Council approved a Development Agreement allowing City Ventures to build 42 homes there: 35 residential condominiums and 7 live/work units arranged across six buildings in Old Town's Downtown Commercial Core Specific Plan area. It is one of the more distinctive infill projects in Tustin's current pipeline, combining for-sale ownership housing with ground-floor live/work space in a walkable location close to El Camino Real. Track new development across Orange County here.
More Than a Decade Vacant: The Newport Avenue Site Before City Ventures
The parcel at 14042 Newport Avenue occupies roughly 2 acres within Development Area 6C of Tustin's Downtown Commercial Core Specific Plan. The DCCSP covers the Old Town area bounded by El Camino Real, Newport Avenue, and the surrounding streets that form the historic core of the city. This is the part of Tustin that predates the freeways, the planned communities, and the master-planned developments that defined most of Orange County's postwar growth. The streets are tight, the blocks are short, and the buildings tend toward small-scale retail and mixed use rather than the strip malls and surface parking that dominate elsewhere.
The Newport Avenue site had a restaurant on it at one point. By the time City Ventures identified it as a development opportunity, the restaurant was gone and the parcel had been sitting vacant for well over ten years. Vacant land in a walkable downtown is both a blight and an opportunity: it contributes no tax revenue, no foot traffic, and no housing, but it also means a developer can build new without demolishing an occupied building. City Ventures saw it as a chance to bring ownership housing and active ground-floor uses to a location that had been unproductive for too long.
The November 2023 Approval: What the City Council Agreed To
The Development Agreement approved on November 21, 2023, authorized a 42-unit for-sale condominium and live/work community on the 2-acre Newport Avenue site. The approval package covered the project's entitlements, design standards, and a set of voluntary community benefits that City Ventures agreed to provide in exchange for the Development Agreement.
The project sits within the Downtown Commercial Core Specific Plan's Development Area 6C, which allows mixed residential and commercial uses at densities appropriate for an Old Town infill site. The DCCSP was adopted to guide growth in Tustin's historic downtown in a way that preserves its walkable, small-scale character while allowing new housing to fill in underutilized parcels. A 42-unit project across six buildings on 2 acres fits that framework: it adds meaningful density without overwhelming the surrounding street fabric.
The voluntary community benefits included in the Development Agreement reflect the kinds of contributions cities typically negotiate when approving projects that require a DA rather than standard ministerial permits. City Ventures agreed to three specific obligations, each addressing a different public interest the city wanted satisfied.
City Ventures: The Builder That Specializes in Exactly This Kind of Project
City Ventures is an Irvine-based homebuilder that has built its entire identity around one idea: for-sale ownership housing on infill sites in established urban and suburban neighborhoods. They are not a tract builder pushing subdivisions into undeveloped land. They find underutilized parcels in downtowns, transit corridors, and established commercial areas, and they build attached homes that would not look out of place in a city that builds this way routinely.
Their live/work model is a signature product. City Ventures has built live/work communities across California, pairing ground-floor commercial or studio space with residential units above, and marketing the combination to buyers who want to work where they live without the full cost of a commercial lease. Their Eginhouse community in Artesia, which included a similar live/work format, sold out. Their Towns on First project in Upland's downtown opened in February 2025. The Tustin project follows the same template: a walkable downtown location, six buildings, a mix of pure residential and live/work units, and for-sale ownership rather than rental.
City Ventures describes their homes as eco-friendly and smart, integrating energy efficiency features and technology into their standard product. In California's regulatory environment, that positioning matters both for permitting and for buyers who are increasingly conscious of operating costs. For a city like Tustin, which is trying to fill gaps in its downtown with housing that serves the neighborhood rather than just adding density, a builder like City Ventures is a close fit for what the Downtown Commercial Core Specific Plan was designed to attract.
What the Project Delivers: Six Buildings, Two Car Garages, and a Public Street Presence
The 42 homes are organized across six buildings on the 2-acre site, with a mix of residential condominiums and the seven live/work units that distinguish this project from a standard condo development. Every home includes an enclosed two-car garage, an amenity that matters in a downtown location where street parking is limited and secure parking directly affects day-to-day usability. Private open space is provided for each unit as well.
The 1,392-square-foot public amenity space fronting El Camino Real is one of the more interesting elements of the deal. El Camino Real is the main commercial spine of Old Town Tustin, running through the historic downtown corridor. A publicly accessible amenity space on that frontage is a street-activation benefit that goes beyond what standard residential projects provide. It gives the community a presence on one of Tustin's most pedestrian-oriented streets and contributes something to the neighborhood rather than simply turning its back on it.
Common open space areas and landscaping are integrated throughout the site, consistent with how City Ventures designs their communities to create a sense of internal neighborhood within the building footprint.
What a Live/Work Unit Actually Is, and Who Buys Them
Live/work housing is a specific product type that blurs the line between commercial and residential use. In a typical live/work unit, the ground floor is zoned and designed for business activity: it might function as a studio, a small office, a creative workspace, a photography space, or a consulting practice. The upper floors contain the residential living quarters. The buyer owns both under a single deed and can operate a licensed business out of the ground floor without needing a separate commercial lease.
The format works particularly well in downtown locations where buyers want proximity to their work and the walkability of an urban neighborhood, but cannot or do not want to carry the cost of separate commercial rent. Freelancers, designers, consultants, therapists, architects, personal trainers, and other independent professionals are the natural market. In Tustin's Old Town context, where the surrounding blocks already have a mix of small retail, restaurants, and professional offices, seven live/work units are not out of place. They reinforce the commercial character of the neighborhood while adding ownership housing.
The distinction from a standard condo matters for buyers who qualify. Live/work financing has its own requirements, and buyers who plan to operate a business from the unit need to understand the zoning and HOA rules governing permitted uses. For buyers who want the format, it is genuinely rare in Orange County new construction, which makes the seven units at 14042 Newport Avenue stand out in the current market.
Where the Project Stands and How It Fits Tustin's Broader Housing Push
The Development Agreement was executed following the November 21, 2023 Council approval. City Ventures is an active builder with a California-wide pipeline, and the Tustin project is consistent with the infill urban projects they have been delivering across the state. Given the approval date and City Ventures' typical construction pace, the project is in or approaching its construction and sales phase.
The 14042 Newport Avenue site is part of a wave of new housing that has been moving through Tustin's entitlement and construction pipeline since 2023. Within a few blocks of Old Town, Kingsbarn Capital is replacing the Tustin Financial Plaza on E. 17th Street with 145 for-sale homes under the Cypress Grove project. Burnham-Ward Properties is redeveloping Enderle Center a short distance away into Campo on 17th, adding 100 townhomes alongside remodeled retail. The Irvine Company is building 1,336 apartments at Tustin Legacy. The Jessup by Intracorp, 40 townhomes just off Irvine Boulevard, sold out in 2025. Tustin's housing pipeline, taken together, represents one of the most active development cycles in any Orange County city right now.
The City Ventures project stands out within that group because of its location in the historic downtown core and its live/work component. Most of the other projects are on larger, more suburban sites. A 42-unit project on 2 acres in Old Town, with seven live/work units on El Camino Real, represents a different scale and a different vision for what Tustin's downtown can become. Track this project and others across the county at the OC New Developments page.
Interested in Old Town Tustin or Live/Work Housing in Orange County?
Live/work ownership housing is rare in OC new construction. If you are an independent professional, a creative, or someone who wants to own rather than lease your workspace alongside your home, the City Ventures project at 14042 Newport Avenue is worth watching. We track this project and every other active development in Tustin and across Orange County.
