Developers of the 1,057-unit One Metro West development in Costa Mesa say construction could begin as early as late 2025.
Metro West developers worked for more than half a decade to put shovels in the ground at the apartment complex. Once built, probably by the mid-2030s, it would add about 3,000 residents to Costa Mesa.
The city approved the project in 2021, initially placing it on a development path that would require voter approval. But a year later, Costa Mesa voters approved Measure K, which eliminates the need for voters to weigh in on developments in certain commercial and industrial areas to require their approval. Under the new law, One Metro West will not have to go before voters to be built.
One Metro West will be built at 1683 Tournesol Avenue, off Highway 405, on land that currently includes a large warehouse. The complex will include three buildings, a park and offices and shops.
“As you know, very little housing has been approved in Costa Mesa over the past eight years. And the lack of housing is at the heart of many of society’s problems,” Brent Stoll, a partner at developer Rose Equities, said at a council meeting in early June.
Stoll said construction is expected to take place in three phases. The first building, closest to the highway, will have around 400 homes and will take up to three years to construct. As part of the project, developers are improving a bike path on Tournesol Avenue that will connect to the Santa Ana River Trail.
In addition to the apartments, the development will include a 1.5-acre public park, 25,000 square feet of commercial office space and approximately 6,000 square feet of retail space. As proposed, the project could take a decade to complete.
Stoll told the Register that rent prices are not yet set but will be market-based once the apartments are built. He said if the apartments were rented today, rents would start at $2,600 to $2,700 a month for a studio. This would make the apartments slightly more expensive than most rentals in the area. The median rent for a two-bedroom unit in Costa Mesa is $2,587, according to data from Apartment List.
About 10% of the project – 106 apartments – will be set aside for affordable housing for low- and very-low-income households.
The overall median rent in Costa Mesa in June was $2,511, according to Apartment List.
The developer, Rose Equities, will pay $17.8 million in development fees to the city, split into two installments: $8 million the year construction begins and the remainder, with interest, five years later.
The first building will be up to 78 feet tall and a parking garage will be built next to it that will face Highway 405. The development is to have an art installation on the side of the garage that faces the highway.
At a meeting in early June where the council approved changing the development agreement for One Metro West, several council members spoke about the urgent need for housing in Costa Mesa. They noted that there is currently no other developer planning a project as large as One Metro West.
“I’ve had too many conversations with my children, ages 17 and 20, about the high cost of living here,” said City Council member Jeffery Harlan. “They shouldn’t think about that. They should think about what they want to do with their life and enjoy this moment. But they recognize that coming back to live here is far too expensive. We have a moral obligation to do something about this.
The second and third apartment buildings, one of which would reach up to 98 feet in height, would likely be built separately and would also take about three years to build.
Mayor John Stephens said the only sustainable way to solve the problem of expensive housing is to build more housing in Costa Mesa.
“One Metro West … is the only developer likely to build a significant amount of housing over the next five to 10 years,” Stephens said.
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