OC Firms Illuminate Oklahoma City Skyscraper

by Yuika Yoshia | Orange County Business Journal

An Orange County Firm is getting closer to constructing what may become the tallest building in the U.S. Newport Beach developer Scot Matteson has enlisted the help of Orange County's biggest architectural firm, Orange-Based AO, for the $1.6 billion project called Legends Tower in Oklahoma City.

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Meeting Today for 2400 Salvio Street, Downtown Concord

by Andrew Nelson | YIMBY SF

The Concord Planning Commission is scheduled to review plans for over two hundred apartments at 2400 Salvio Street in the downtown core of Concord in Contra Costa County. The proposal would replace a vacant parcel next to BART tracks and two blocks from Todos Santos Plaza. Washington State-based Marginal Properties Concord LLC is responsible for the application.

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City Council Approves Seely Avenue Masterplan, San Jose

by YIMBY SF

Master plans for a mixed-use residential project have been approved for development at 0 Seely Avenue, along Coyote Creek in North San Jose, Santa Clara County. The project will replace the current farmland and orchards with over a thousand apartments and retail space. Hanover Company, Pacific Companies, and SummerHill Homes are jointly responsible for the development.

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The DoubleTree Hotel Near The John Wayne Airport Has Been Completely Redesigned

by New Santa Ana

Leading OC architecture firm, AO, completed a redesign at Hotel Zessa – a Hilton hotel located near John Wayne Airport, at 201 E MacArthur Blvd., in Santa Ana. The redesign infuses vibrancy and zest to the 192K square foot DoubleTree hotel, emulating the brand spirit and Orange County’s ambiance. AO’s work can be found throughout the seven-story hotel as the rebrand was completed in guest rooms, lobby, fitness center, and other shared spaces.

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Purposeful Innovation: Smart and Feasible Solutions for Multifamily Development

by RC Alley, Managing Partner, AO

As the year progresses, the challenges confronting California’s real estate landscape persist, casting a shadow on the prospect of accessible and affordable housing. At AO, we view these challenges not as insurmountable obstacles, but as opportunities for purposeful innovation — a commitment to developing practical multifamily solutions to pressing issues faced by our developer clients, cities, and the communities which we serve.

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Santa Ana’s $650M Row at Red Hill on Track for Completion in 2025

by Steven Sharp | Urbanize LA

With its 2025 completion date now on the horizon, Greystar has announced that leasing is underway for its largest development ever: the Row at Red Hill, a sprawling mixed-use development on the border between Santa Ana and Tustin. Located on 14.5 acres of land at 2300 S. Red Hill Avenue in Santa Ana, the project will include 1,100 rental apartments, as well as 40,000 square feet of commercial space and four separate parking structures.

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166-Unit Senior Housing Complex Breaks Ground at 1800 E. La Veta Ave. in Orange

by Steven Sharp | Urbanize LA

USA Properties Fund. and Safehold, Inc. have commenced construction on a senior affordable housing complex in the City of Orange. The Orion, planned at 1800 E. La Veta Avenue, will consist of 166 apartments catering to low-income renters aged 55 and up - including eight permanent supportive housing units. The site is located near shopping centers, medical offices, regional parks, and in proximity to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Disneyland, according to a news release.

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Creating Connections Through Design

by Nellie Day | Shopping Center Business

It's a fact of life that online shopping and the omnichannel approach have altered the way people shop. They've also altered the function of today's shopping centers. So has COVID. What was once a place for transactions has now become a place for connection, escape, and the ability to recharge.

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Big Apartment Complex Planned at 1941 White Ave. in La Verne

by Steven Sharp | Urbanize LA

Novipax, an Illinois-based company which makes absorbent packaging for food and healthcare products, currently operates out of a 100,000-square-foot facility located at 1941 White Avenue in La Verne. The proposed project, which would rise across the street from the Fairplex in Pomona, calls for razing all existing improvements to make way for a new five-story residential building featuring 367 homes and 1,588 square feet of retail space, as well as a six-level parking structure at the rear of the site adjacent to a Metrolink right-of-way.

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Rebar Cages Rise for New Modular Development at 1457 N. Main Street in Chinatown

by Steven Sharp | Urbanize LA

Just east of L.A. State Historic Park in Chinatown, rebar now protrudes above street level at the future site of a modular apartment complex from Thrive Living. The project, which replaced a food processing facility at 1457 N. Main Street, calls for the construction of a six-story building featuring 376 studio and one-bedroom apartments above 6,448 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Plans also call for a 104-car garage.

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How to Fail at Delivering a Modular Project

by Nick Gomez | AO

Top ten lists are everywhere. It is a simple way of taking vast information and distilling it into 10 simple bullet points. While the list can often be subjective, the aim is to help you further explore a subject in depth. Most lists are about things to do or see, but I have decided to look at the repetitive mistakes people make that can derail a modular project.

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How an Old Nevada Office Park Is Getting a Retail Makeover

by Madalina Pojoga | Commercial Property Executive

In Henderson, Nev., some 16 miles southeast of Las Vegas, a joint venture is investing $30 million in redeveloping a former 100,000-square-foot, two-building office campus into an open-air retail center. And many could see this office-to-retail conversion as a bold move considering the retail industry has been facing its own set of challenges over the past decade. But the team behind the project is banking on local metrics and the fact that residents don’t have access to similar centers in the immediate area.

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Element Hotel Shares Site with Marriot Hotel Mission Valley

by Ray Huard | San Diego Business Journal

A seven-story, 150-room hotel tower is under construction in Mission Valley adjacent to the existing Marriott Hotel Mission Valley. Designed by AO, with R.D. Olson Construction as the general contractor, the 98,000-square-foot Element is part of the Marriott family of hotels and The Mission Valley Element will share an outdoor courtyard, swimming pool, amenity deck, restaurants and an existing parking garage with the Marriott Mission Valley.

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“We Didn’t Want it to Be Crazy” Says Architect of America’s Tallest Skyscraper

by Ben Dreith | Dezeen

Architecture firm AO never set out to design America's tallest skyscraper when it began work on the 581-metre Legends Tower planned for Oklahoma City, studio partner Bruce Greenfield tells Dezeen in this interview.

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Bryson Legacy Affordable Housing Completed at 2721 Wilshire Boulevard

by Steven Sharp | Urbanize LA

Across the street from Lafayette Park in Westlake, construction is complete for the Bryson Legacy, a new affordable housing complex at 2721 Wilshire Boulevard. The project, developed as a joint venture between the Los Angeles Housing Partnership and Richman Group, is named for its immediate next-door neighbor: the historic Bryson Building. The new six-story building features 64 apartments reserved for households earning between 30 and 50 percent of the area median income level.

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AO Wins Three Grand Prizes at the 61st Annual PCBC Gold Nugget Awards

by Aymee Valdes | Idea Hall

AO, a leading full-service architecture firm with design expertise spanning the entire commercial and multifamily residential real estate spectrum, was a multiple-award winner at last night’s prestigious PCBC Gold Nugget Awards ceremony, held at The Westin Resort in Anaheim.

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Driftwood Capital Breaks Ground on 150-Room Element Hotel by Marriott in San Diego

by Rebusiness Online

Driftwood Capital, along with architect AO and general contractor R.D. Olson Construction, has broken ground on Element Hotel by Marriott in the Mission Valley submarket of San Diego. The seven-story, 150-room hotel will be located next to the existing full-service Marriott Hotel Mission Valley. The two hotels will share the pool amenity deck and restaurant space, while each maintaining its own entrance, lobby, lounge and other amenities.

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Pacific West and Nonprofit Builder Land $71M for San Jose Apartments 

by TRD Staff

Pacific West Communities and Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing have landed a $70.9 million construction loan to build a 240-unit affordable housing complex in San Jose. An unidentified affiliate of the Idaho-based builder and nonprofit developer based in Merced secured the loan to construct the six-story complex at 4300 and 4310 Monterey Road, in Downtown, the San Jose Mercury News reported. It would replace a vacant lot.

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What Retail Apocalypse? Shopping Centers Are Making a Comeback.

by Joe Gose | NY Times

Shopping center landlords have found themselves in a wholly unfamiliar position: For the first time in 20 years, demand for retail space outstrips supply. That demand has soared recently and, after years of muted construction and a purge of weak-performing properties, met a retail market with less available space. Properties that survived the purge signed up tenants that would draw more shoppers and give them more reason to linger.

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Oklahoma City Council OKs Plan for North America’s Tallest Tower

by Richard Korman, Nadine M. Post
Engineering News-Record

The Oklahoma City Council approved a zoning change on June 4 allowing a developer to build what is planned to be a 1,907-ft tower—and North America's tallest structure—in a mixed-use development. The rezoning, which passed by am 8-to-1 vote, removes the height restriction originally placed on the site. Further approvals from the council will be needed as the plan moves ahead.

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