By Eric Engelbert
A Military Base, a Failed Airport, and the Largest Master-Planned Community in Orange County
The land that is now Great Park Neighborhoods was once one of the most strategic military installations on the West Coast. Marine Corps Air Station El Toro operated for more than 50 years before the Department of Defense closed it in 1999 as part of a post-Cold War base consolidation. The 4,700-acre site sat largely vacant while Orange County debated what to do with it.
For years the loudest proposal was an international airport. Supporters argued El Toro's existing runways and distance from the coast made it ideal. Opponents, led largely by Irvine residents who would bear the noise burden, fought it at every turn. In March 2002, Orange County voters rejected the airport plan by a significant margin. The land would become something else entirely.
What followed was one of the most complex public-private development deals in California history, producing a community that now has more than 7,000 homes sold, a 688-acre public park, an Olympic-caliber sports complex, and a pipeline stretching toward nearly 12,000 total homes.
FivePoint and the Man Who Built It
The developer behind Great Park Neighborhoods is FivePoint Holdings, a publicly traded company (NYSE: FPH) headquartered in Irvine. FivePoint was founded in 2009 by Emile Haddad, who spent years before that as Chief Investment Officer of Lennar Corporation, one of the largest homebuilders in the country. Haddad launched FivePoint at the bottom of the worst real estate market in a generation, betting on a long-horizon play on large-scale community development.
FivePoint went public in May 2017 at $14 per share. Lennar remains FivePoint's largest shareholder, controlling about 39% of all shares. The current CEO is Dan Hedigan, who took over after Haddad stepped back from day-to-day operations. FivePoint's portfolio extends beyond Irvine to Valencia (formerly Newhall Ranch) in Los Angeles County and two communities in San Francisco, with a combined pipeline of approximately 40,000 homes and 23 million square feet of commercial space across all projects.
At Great Park Neighborhoods specifically, FivePoint does not build homes. It develops the land, installs infrastructure, sells lots to homebuilders, and manages the master plan. The builders construct and sell directly to buyers. FivePoint's profit comes from land sales, and those sales have been substantial.
The $250 Million Public-Private Partnership
The arrangement that made Great Park Neighborhoods possible is worth understanding. In 2013, FivePoint entered into a public-private partnership with the City of Irvine in which the company committed approximately $250 million to build and maintain park infrastructure and sports amenities directly tied to its residential development. That was not a fee or a tax. It was a contractual commitment to fund public amenities as part of the right to develop the surrounding land.
FivePoint has followed through. The company has spent approximately $250 million improving 688 acres of the Great Park, including a 175-acre sports complex that opened in 2017. The complex hosts youth and amateur sports events year-round and draws visitors from across Southern California. The investment in public amenities was strategic as much as civic. A world-class park adjacent to your housing development makes the homes significantly more attractive and valuable.
The next major amenity coming online is The Canopy, a 12-acre experiential retail, restaurant, and food-and-beverage destination developed by Almquist Development. It broke ground in April 2025 and is targeting an opening in late 2026. A performing arts building is also slated to open in late 2026 or early 2027, further expanding the cultural infrastructure of the community.
The Land Sales: Where the Real Money Is
FivePoint's business model is fundamentally a land business. The company buys large tracts, entitles them, installs infrastructure, and sells finished lots to national homebuilders at a premium. In the Great Park context, the numbers have been consistently impressive.
Over 9,000 home sites have been sold since the community opened, averaging approximately $790,000 per lot. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, FivePoint sold 326 home sites to four builders for a combined $257.7 million, at prices ranging from $8.5 million to $11 million per acre, averaging $9.7 million per acre. That transaction ranked among the largest single-quarter land sales in Orange County history.
The buyers of those lots were national homebuilders who then construct and sell finished homes at the prices the market will bear. In Great Park Neighborhoods, that market has been willing to pay significantly.
Who Is Building and What They Are Charging
• Lennar: Homes starting from $1,224,990. Three to four bedrooms, 2,013 to 2,527 square feet.
• Toll Brothers: Homes from $1.5 million across four collections (Elm, Birch, Rowan, Alder). Premium Elevate collection starts at $2,699,000. Three to seven bedrooms, up to six bathrooms, with covered decks and 2-car garages.
• Multiple additional builders active across various neighborhoods within the 2,100-acre master plan.
• Overall community: More than 7,000 homes sold since opening. Resale values consistently strong given school quality, amenities, and Irvine location premium.
Where the Project Stands Today
Great Park Neighborhoods currently holds entitlements for 10,566 homes. FivePoint is actively seeking approval from the City of Irvine for an additional 1,300 units, which would bring total entitlements to approximately 11,856. The expansion would convert previously approved but unbuilt non-residential square footage into residential use, consistent with the city's broader push to add housing in already-planned areas.
Beyond the core entitlements, Irvine's General Plan includes a Transit Village District overlay tied to the Great Park area, which contemplates an additional 5,252 residential units oriented around transit access and a more urban, walkable format. That expansion represents the next chapter of development on and around the former base land and would push the total residential output of the Great Park corridor well above 15,000 homes over time.
The community already has a Metrolink station nearby and the city has long planned for transit-oriented density in this corridor. As Irvine works to meet state housing mandates and position itself for long-term growth, the Great Park area is one of the places where density makes the most geographic and planning sense.
The Numbers at a Glance
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total site (former MCAS El Toro) | 4,700 acres |
| Park amenities funded by FivePoint | $250 million |
| Total home entitlements (current) | 10,566 |
| Expansion under review | +1,300 |
| Transit Village District (additional) | 5,252 |
| Homes sold to date | 7,000+ |
| Lots sold to builders (avg price) | 9,000+ at ~$790K each |
| Q3 2025 land sale (326 lots) | $257.7 million |
| Entry price (new construction) | $1.22M (Lennar) to $2.7M+ (Toll Brothers) |
What This Means for Buyers
Great Park Neighborhoods has established itself as one of the most desirable new construction destinations in Orange County. The combination of Irvine schools, proximity to major employment corridors, and the park amenities package creates a value proposition that has supported pricing well above the Orange County median consistently since the community opened.
For buyers, the key question is timing. As FivePoint sells more lots and builders deliver more phases, inventory availability shifts. The community is large enough that new phases continue to come online, but popular floor plans and locations sell quickly. Buyers interested in new construction here should be tracking active phases closely and working with an agent who has direct access to builder sales teams.
The Transit Village expansion and The Canopy retail opening in late 2026 will add further amenities and potentially draw additional demand to the area. Buyers who get in before those projects are complete may benefit from the price appreciation that typically follows major amenity openings in master-planned communities.
Great Park Neighborhoods is one of dozens of major projects reshaping Orange County. See every city and every development on the New Developments in Orange County page.
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