Irvine at the Crossroads

PHOTO COURTESY THE LEGACY PROJECT

This being my inaugural post, I thought that I would start with an overview of what is occurring in my hometown of Irvine. And what is happening is Irvine’s continued evolution as a community on the cutting-edge of real estate development. Some love the results, which include award-winning schools, highly maintained infrastructure, and a high level of public safety as shown by consistently making the FBI’s safest large cities list. Others are not so impressed. They feel that the environment is too controlled, too monotonous, too, well, “beige.”

Love or hate the results, anyone who knows Irvine’s history would have to admit that Irvine has always been on the cutting-edge of development practices. Irvine’s history as part of one of the largest ranches in the country that used cutting-edge agricultural practices, and its later conversion into one of the most successful master-planned communities in the U.S. bears this out.

And this innovation continues today: Former ranch land is being converted into new suburban homes, and former suburban and light industrial areas are being converted into urban villages. In addition, the seven-square miles of the former El Toro Marine base are being transformed into the Orange County Great Park.

Will you love or hate the coming changes? You can decide. In addition to providing details on home prices, future posts will tract this evolution as well as provide some insight into the dynamics behind these changes.

So stay tuned for coming attractions, and welcome.