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    Back to Orange County Line

    Orange County Line

    Which Way Irvine?

    A new home-builder in Irvine plans to upend the infamous suburb.

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    By Gustavo Arellano • Nov 19, 2013 • 3m Listen

    Last week, hundreds of Irvine residents went to City Hall to discuss the long-delayed Great Park. Part of the massive public works project will depend on the housing communities offered by Emile Haddad, CEO of FivePoints Communities that will ring the Great Park. He's positioning himself and his ideas — sustainable, vibrant neighborhoods that place an emphasis on walking-friendly communities instead of commuters — as the antithesis to the mighty Irvine Company and its reclusive owner, Don Bren, who single-handedly gave Irvine its reputation as a bland surburb. Can Haddad lead Irvine forward to a new reality—or will the Irvine Co. have the final laugh?

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Gustavo Arellano

      columnist, LA Times

      CultureNewsOrange County
    Back to Orange County Line