Irvine kills property sale for possible homeless bridge shelter

With a minute to spare, the Irvine City Council terminated the purchase of two properties that city officials eyed two weeks ago as a potential homeless bridge shelter during a special meeting held on Election Day.

By voting to shred the deal moments before it closed, the city forfeited a $1 million deposit towards the acquisition of the buildings in the Irvine Business Complex along Armstrong Avenue.

“I am not very happy with the process that has brought us to today,” said Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan, who called for Tuesday’s special meeting. “What I really want to do is make sure that the location, the cost of the location, and everything else that goes with it is openly discussed so we’re all on the same page moving forward.”

Irvine council members debated the property sale during the Oct. 22 meeting and voted 4-1 to acquire and update the buildings for $20 million. Dubbed “the Sanctuary,” the pair of buildings served as a potential site for a bridge shelter with integrated services for homeless and at-risk people.

According to this year’s Orange County Point in Time homeless count, 50 people are living on the streets of Irvine. Other statistics show that 124 people are receiving homeless services and 300 Irvine Unified School District students are homeless.

As the second most populous city in Orange County, Irvine currently has no shelter sites of any kind. City staffers considered the acquisition a key to a comprehensive policy approach to homelessness.

Along with three of her colleagues, Khan voted in favor of the property purchase at that time. Only Councilman Mike Carroll voted against it.

But on Monday, Khan sent a memo to City Manager Oliver Chi where she said outreach wasn’t done prior to the original vote and claimed the purchase price was inflated by $4 million.

Before Khan’s memo, Irvine Business Complex residents organized against the site being repurposed as a bridge shelter.

“The whole transaction was rushed without involving the community, at all,” Sam Abedi, an Irvine resident who lives within walking distance of the properties, told TimesOC after the meeting. “It’s not to say we oppose the homeless. But to have a shelter put right behind our homes, and the fact that there’s young families living here, it would only take one incident to completely change the outlook of the neighborhood.”

The Irvine Business Complex was recently rezoned to include up to 15,000 housing units in the future. The council overturned the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission’s objections in doing so.

A week after the vote, the MDL, an upscale, gated townhome community, hosted a meeting attended by Councilwoman Tammy Kim, Chi and Irvine police officers.

Concerned residents started a website, circulated an online survey and mobilized turnout for the special meeting.

“The options for what we do with the property as we move the discussion forward, ultimately, are wide open,” Chi said during the meeting. “We have some ideas as relates to a possible bridge housing facility on the site, but it could be a different type of project.”

Irvine City Council reversed course on purchasing two properties for a future homeless bridge shelter.

(Gabriel San Román)

Within the first 10 minutes of the meeting, Carroll moved to terminate the sale altogether.

“What’s going to happen is two buildings [are] going to be bought by a current owner, and seconds later, the city of Irvine is going to pay an additional $4 million to buy those buildings,” he said. “Now we have our city manager telling us, ‘Let’s use it for a gym [or] let’s use it for a library.’ Two weeks ago, my colleagues voted to make this a homeless shelter.”

The dozens gathered at council chambers on Monday erupted in applause.

Chi said that the properties were appraised last month at about $19.5 million and that the city’s purchasing price would be below market value.

Councilman Larry Agran, who is running for mayor against his council colleague Tammy Kim, supported the sale.

“A lesson I learned a long time ago is any time the city can acquire land at a reasonable price, we should do it,” he said. “We’re in great financial shape. It’s important to invest in the land. Land values always go up here, and the city is here to stay forever.”

The council meeting sped through the dozens of people assembled for public comment. Most opposed the property site being converted into a bridge shelter.

Michael Shepherd, who works at Orange County United Way near the proposed site, supported the original plan as did a letter submitted by the nonprofit.

“We engage with stereotypes, misunderstandings and fears surrounding homelessness every day,” he said. “We desire for this to be an opportunity for the council and the community and citizens together to work and build solutions that serve all of Irvine, both the housed and the unhoused.”

With time running out, Khan cut public comments short to take a vote.

Kim, who is campaigning against Agran for mayor, arrived at the meeting to cast a vote alongside Khan and Carroll to kill the real estate deal before abruptly leaving. Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder and Agran voted to close the sale.

A trio of council members stayed for extended public comments after the vote.

Abedi welcomed the termination.

“It’s good to hear the concerns of residents and businesses in a fair and balanced approach to this whole process,” he said. “It was a good decision today for everybody.”