Coinciding with an article highlighting how the newest wave of master-planned communities are being built for real-world connectivity, BUILDER shines a bright orange spotlight on FivePoint Communities’ Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine, California.
The logo of FivePoint Communities’ Great Park Neighborhoods is a whimsical orange bicycle, but that choice wasn’t made on a whim. Bordering the 1,300-acre Orange County Great Park, on the grounds of a decommissioned Marine Corps air station, the 2,800-acre mixed-use development is laced with bikeways that speed two-wheeled transport within the community, through the park, and – via transit links – to the world beyond.
Approved for 9,500 housing units, Great Parks Neighborhoods eventually will include up to 4.7 million square feet of office and commercial space. That’s a lot of potential bike commuters. But the logo’s friendly connotations extend beyond physical mobility.
“We focus on mixing things,” says FivePoint president and CEO Emile Haddad. “Each community will have a beating heart” – with a combination of national and local retailers – “where it feels like a little downtown.”
Housing will include single-family residences, move-down homes for empty nesters, and rental apartments for low-income seniors. FivePoint will design all of them, partly for consistency but also to attract buyers from a wide range of backgrounds.
