One of Santa Ana’s busiest intersections for shopping and culture in the South Coast Metro area could attract even more people if a proposed project promising to mix housing, retail and public space gets the City Council’s approval this week.
Related Bristol is a proposed two-block development of up to 3,750 residential units, a 250-room hotel, a 200-unit tower for senior living and up to 350,000 square feet of restaurants and shops, as well as a grocery store and 13 acres of park space.
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The Santa Ana City Council will hold a public hearing at its Tuesday, Sept. 17, meeting to consider the mixed-use project that would transform the south Bristol Street corridor. If approved, developer Related California, based in Irvine, estimates the construction – broken into phases – could be completed in about at least 10 years.
Currently nestled on the property are retailers such as Ross Dress for Less and Hobby Lobby, a Vons, restaurants of varying size, smaller storefront businesses and a couple of banks in two shopping centers ringed with an expanse of parking lots. The two blocks making up 42 acres on the west side of Bristol Street between MacArthur Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue, across from the South Coast Plaza and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, have seen little change in decades.
Making the property even more ripe for an overhaul, all the leases in the two shopping centers – property which has been owned by the Callens family for more than 100 years – are up next year, presenting a “crossroads” as the nature of retail changes and the city looks for opportunities in this part of Santa Ana, Steven Oh, Related California executive vice president, has said.
The Santa Ana Planning Commission gave its unanimous approval for the project last month, it now needs the final greenlight from the City Council.
“I’m really, for this particular decision, guided by the ongoing housing crisis more than anything,” Planning Commissioner Manuel Escamilla said at the Aug. 12 meeting. “I’m feeling honored to make a motion to approve what essentially is Santa Ana’s newest neighborhood. It’s a very strong combination of a lot of positives. This is the level of quality that this city deserves.”
Little opposition was voiced at the commission meeting; earlier concerns raised by the commissioners and residents wanting assurance that an affordable grocery store would be available at the center, that the impact to traffic conditions during construction would be minimized and that the surrounding neighborhoods would also reap benefits from the area’s transformation, appear to have been largely addressed.
Oh said his team has spoken over the last two and a half years with nearby residents, local organizations and businesses about the project. Those meetings, Tammy Frias, president of the Sandpointe Neighborhood Association, said have helped eased neighbors’ concerns.
“We’re hoping that they’ll be good neighbors, only time will tell, but so far so good,” Frias said. “We seem to be on the same page as of right now.
“We did ask for a designated construction route that would keep construction trucks from using the streets that go through our neighborhoods,” she said. “This is a 10- to 15-year project, and we don’t want all those construction trucks to be constantly going through the neighborhood.”
And, she said Related California has promised neighbors – where before the developers seemed noncommittal, she said – the new project would include a full-service grocery store.
The project’s plans place more of the 3,750 residential units in buildings along South Plaza Drive and more of the retail along Bristol Street, with a central park in between; toward Sunflower Avenue would be more retail space, the 200-unit senior living complex and the hotel with another large green area. A vast underground parking complex is part of the proposal.
The developers have said construction would be rolled out south to north.
Related California will pay the city of Santa Ana $18 million to be used for affordable housing projects throughout the city, in-lieu of designating any of its planned residential as affordable units.
The developers have also offered a $22 million “community benefit payment” to be spent at the direction of the City Council. The Planning Commission and residents are requesting the council create an oversight mechanism for how those funds get allocated.
“We the South Coast Metro Neighborhood Alliance, have requested a citizen oversight committee to oversee, help advise and guide where and how these funds will be spent,” Frias said. “The oversight committee will have one person from each ward appointed by each of the City Council members, for a total of seven people. There is plenty of money to go around and do the right thing by helping out these neighborhoods surrounding the project.”
At nearly $3 billion, Related Bristol will be the single largest private investment in Santa Ana’s history, Oh said.
“Related Bristol will become a destination for community, culture and connection, and establish a new model for smart, sustainable growth with 13 acres of public open space in the heart of Orange County,” Oh said. “We are excited about the opportunity to create a new gateway for Santa Ana on South Bristol Street and we look forward to presenting this transformational project to the City Council.”
The Santa Ana City Council meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the City Council Chamber, 22 Civic Center Plaza. Meeting are also streamed at YouTube.com/@CityofSantaAnavideos.
