A Nine-Story Condo Building Is Coming to Harbor and First in Santa Ana

One of the most prominent vacant corners in Santa Ana is finally moving toward development. Primior, an Irvine-based real estate investment and development firm, received full entitlements in March 2024 for First Harbor Square, a nine-story mixed-use building at 101 North Harbor Boulevard. The project will bring 181 for-sale condominium units to a site that sits at the signalized intersection of Harbor Boulevard and First Street, one of the busiest intersections in the city with over 83,000 vehicles passing each day.

This is a project that has been a long time coming. Primior spent roughly seven years working with the City of Santa Ana to move the project through the entitlement process. With approvals now in hand, the development is in the architectural feasibility and design phase as it works toward a construction start. For buyers watching the Santa Ana market, First Harbor Square is worth tracking as one of the few new for-sale condo projects in the pipeline for this part of Orange County.

Pricing: Not Yet Released

No condo pricing or floor plans have been released for First Harbor Square as of July 2026. The project is still in the design phase following its March 2024 entitlement approval. Pricing will be set closer to the construction and pre-sales launch. I follow new construction projects like this across Santa Ana and Orange County and will update this page when pricing becomes available. Reach out if you want to be on the list when details are released.

60 For-Sale Townhomes Proposed in West Santa Ana

A Torrance-based real estate company called Storm Properties is proposing to replace a vacant industrial property in west Santa Ana with 60 three-story for-sale townhomes. The site sits at the corner of West 1st Street and South Mountain View Street, close to the intersection of several major freeways, and the project would be one of the first new for-sale ownership communities to come to this part of Santa Ana in recent years.

The project is in the early stages of the city review process as of July 2026. It still needs Planning Commission and City Council approval before construction can begin. This blog covers what we know about the project, the land deal, and the developer behind it. We will update this page as the project moves through approvals.

About the Developer: Storm Properties

Storm Properties is a Torrance-based real estate firm that develops, owns, and manages residential, industrial, and commercial properties. It is a subsidiary of Storm Industries Inc., a Torrance company that traces its roots back over 90 years to a brass foundry in Los Angeles. Storm Industries has grown into a diversified group of businesses operating across the country and internationally.

Storm Properties focuses on multifamily acquisitions, residential land development, and industrial properties in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and Phoenix. The company's residential track record includes more than 60 communities developed over its history, including detached single-family and attached townhome projects in Southern California. Prior local projects include a 48-home detached single-family community in Torrance and a 127-unit multifamily community in Santa Fe Springs. The Santa Ana project represents the company's entry into the Orange County ownership housing market.

A Vacant Office Building Is Becoming 86 New Townhomes

A five-story office building that sat mostly empty for years near the 5 and 55 freeway interchange in Santa Ana is coming down to make way for 86 new townhomes. Meritage Homes, one of the largest publicly traded homebuilders in the United States, paid $19.2 million for the site at 2020 East First Street in April 2025. Demolition is underway and the project is targeting a grand opening in late 2026.

This is one of the more interesting new home projects in Santa Ana because of how it got here. The site went through a full ownership and re-entitlement story before a shovel hit the ground: a Seal Beach commercial real estate firm bought the building, tried to lease it, renovated it, and eventually pivoted to residential conversion when the office market could not absorb the space. That pivot is now becoming 86 for-sale townhomes in a part of Santa Ana that has not seen this type of new ownership housing product in some time.

Sale Prices: Not Yet Released

As of July 2026, Meritage has not released an official price list for the 2020 East First Street townhomes. The project is listed as preconstruction on major new home listing platforms, with pricing to follow closer to the sales launch. I keep up on new construction projects like this across Orange County and research price lists as they become available. Check back here for updates, or reach out directly and I will share what I have.

Ground Has Been Broken at the Old Fairview Site

If you have driven past 2501 Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa recently, you may have noticed a large crane and fresh ground disturbance along the western edge of the old Fairview Developmental Center property. Construction is underway on the Cal OES Emergency Operations Center in the southwest corner of the site, and demolition of the remaining hospital buildings is progressing on the housing portion. This is one of the largest land redevelopment projects in Orange County history, and it is now moving from planning to reality.

The Fairview Developmental Center occupied a prime piece of Costa Mesa for more than 60 years. Now, roughly 100 acres of that land is set to become a new mixed-income residential neighborhood. The Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report are at the Planning Commission level as of July 2026, and a master developer has not yet been selected by the State. When it is complete, this project will add thousands of housing units to a city that has been under intense state pressure to produce more homes.

This blog covers the development factually: what the site is, who fought over its future, what is being planned, who will build it, what the golf course situation is, and what happens next. If you want to read more about the golf course pressure angle specifically, we have a companion piece linked at the bottom of this page. 

The Golf Course: What Has Been Decided and What Has Not

The Fairview site is largely surrounded by the Costa Mesa Municipal Golf Course. The proposed Specific Plan includes a road that would run through a portion of the golf course, approximately 4,650 linear feet in length. Depending on final routing and design, this road could affect two to six holes of the existing course. It would be required as a circulation element if the density of the project exceeds certain thresholds, which is considered likely given the financial realities of the project.

The Specific Plan states that golf course hole relocation is the responsibility of the master developer, who would be required to hire a golf course consultant to redesign the affected holes. However, the plan does not currently specify that the redesign must meet a particular quality standard or receive the City's approval before proceeding. That is an open issue that city officials and community members have raised in public meetings. The city has the right to review a development agreement, but the final terms of the State-to-developer agreement are not under the City's direct control.

The golf course road has not been formally approved or finalized. It is a requirement embedded in the draft Specific Plan that will take effect if the plan is adopted as written and if development density triggers the need for it. There is no separate vote planned on the golf course component specifically. The City Council vote on the Specific Plan itself, expected late 2026, will be the decision point for whether this road requirement becomes binding.

If you are interested in the broader context of golf courses facing pressure from housing development across Orange County, we have a separate blog that covers this topic in more depth: [link to companion golf course blog].

A Major Apartment Project Is Coming to Newport Beach's Koll Center

One of Newport Beach's best-known corporate addresses is about to get its first residential neighbors. The Picerne Group has approval to build 312 apartments at 4400 Von Karman Avenue, inside the Koll Center Newport business park near John Wayne Airport. The project is called the Residences at 4400 Von Karman, and it has been years in the making, navigating approvals, legal challenges, and appeals before finally clearing the way for construction.

For buyers and renters watching the Newport Beach market, this project is worth knowing about. Koll Center is one of the most recognizable commercial addresses in Orange County, home to corporate tenants including Hyundai Motor Company, Wells Fargo, and The Pacific Club. Adding 312 apartments to that environment represents a meaningful shift in how the area functions, and signals broader change coming to the airport corridor of Newport Beach.

Two Major Apartment Projects Are Reshaping the Bristol Street Corridor

The stretch of Bristol Street near John Wayne Airport is quietly becoming one of the most active apartment development corridors in Newport Beach. The Picerne Group, a Newport Beach-based developer with decades of history in Southern California, has two large residential projects approved and moving forward in this area. Together, the two projects represent more than 540 new apartments on land that previously held aging office buildings.

For anyone watching the Newport Beach rental market, or thinking about investing in the area, these projects are worth understanding. They signal a broader shift in how Newport Beach is approaching the office-to-residential conversion trend that is playing out across Orange County.

New Apartments Planned at 1526 Placentia Ave, Newport Beach

A new apartment complex is in the early planning stages at 1526 Placentia Ave in Newport Beach. The project, filed under permit application PR2024-0500, involves Cefalia Development, a Newport Beach-based general contractor and real estate developer with a track record of infill residential projects throughout the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa corridor.

The site was previously occupied by a single-story convenience store, a 2,700 square foot building constructed in 1966 that operated for decades as a neighborhood liquor store. The parcel is 0.35 acres with 69 feet of frontage on Placentia Ave and is zoned RM (Residential Medium Density) by the City of Newport Beach, a designation that supports multifamily residential development. The land alone carried an assessed value of approximately $3.7 million at the time of sale.

Details on unit count, building height, and project timeline have not yet been released publicly. This blog will be updated as the project moves through the city's review and approval process.

Yes, California Is Suing Costa Mesa. Here Is the Full Story.

On July 16, 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the City of Costa Mesa, alleging the city has failed to adopt a state-certified housing plan after missing a 2021 deadline. The filing landed alongside lawsuits against four other California cities: Calexico, Half Moon Bay, Ridgecrest, and Turlock.

If you heard about this and were surprised, you are not alone. Costa Mesa has been building housing, working with state planners, and moving through the certification process. The city is not Huntington Beach, which spent years in open defiance of housing law. So what happened, and is Costa Mesa actually at risk of paying fines? This post breaks it all down.

How Costa Mesa Got Here

Costa Mesa is not a city that sat on its hands. Council members who spoke after the lawsuit was filed pointed to two specific factors that slowed the housing element process.

The first was Measure Y, a voter-approved slow-growth ordinance from 2016 that required any change to the city’s general plan to go to a citywide vote. Since a housing element update requires general plan amendments, the city had to navigate this constraint before it could rezone the sites needed for certification. Repealing or working around Measure Y consumed significant council time and political capital from roughly 2022 through 2024.

The second was the city’s decision to draft an inclusionary housing ordinance, a local law requiring a percentage of new residential developments to include affordable units. Crafting that policy, which required its own public process and legal review, pulled planning staff and council attention away from the housing element submissions.

Councilman Manuel Chavez said in an interview following the lawsuit: “I do think those two things made us not be as entirely focused on the housing element as we could’ve been.” The state also raised concerns about Costa Mesa’s sober living home ordinance during the review process, though Costa Mesa successfully defended that law in court through multiple rounds of litigation.