One Broadway Plaza, a 37-story mixed-use development in the heart of downtown Santa Ana that would be one of Orange County’s tallest buildings, is back before city planning officials with another revision.
Santa Ana residents are invited to share their thoughts on the latest proposal at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, during the project’s first Sunshine Ordinance community meeting. Attendees can participate virtually or in person at Beale’s Texas BBQ, formerly known as Original Mike’s, at 100 S. Main St.
For more than 20 years, progress has stalled as planning and revisions for One Broadway Plaza faced repeated delays, partly due to political and legal setbacks.
The One Broadway Plaza project was initially proposed as a commercial skyscraper in 1999 by Caribou Industries President Mike Harrah, a prominent Santa Ana real estate developer behind several major downtown projects, including the 3rd and Broadway Promenade and 625 North Grand.
It was approved by the City Council in 2004, with an amendment to the general plan zoning for that property. In 2005, a group of residents organized under the Coalition for Accountable Government Ethics challenged the rezoning and circulated a referendum ballot measure, which was ultimately approved by voters in a special election that year. The same coalition filed a lawsuit in 2010, arguing the city had softened development requirements to move the project forward.
In 2020, the council approved Harrah’s request to add 415 residential units alongside the proposed office and commercial space. The project has been critiqued by some community members for not including any affordable housing units, with Harrah reportedly agreeing to pay about $4.77 million in in-lieu fees instead.
The community meeting on Jan. 28 will address Harrah’s current project revision, which seeks city approval to add more housing units over office space. The proposal would include a total of 602 residential units, along with a grocery store connected to a detached eight-level parking structure.