A 1,050-unit apartment development in Costa Mesa, dubbed Hive Live, is set to be considered by the City Council next month after recently clearing the Planning Commission.
Proposed for 14 acres north of the 405 Freeway on Susan Street, the project would include 105 low-income units in the mix of housing, as well as 3,692 square feet of retail space and 335,958 square feet of open space. The green space would be paseos open to the public during business hours and the project would also add more access to nearby bike lanes.
The plan, proposed by San Francisco-based real estate firm Legacy Partners, would replace the existing Hive Creative Office Campus and former Los Angeles Chargers practice field.
Planning Commissioner David Martinez supported the development, saying additional housing units are much needed in the city.
He also remembered as a successful development a 250-unit luxury apartment building, 580 Anton, that Legacy Partners designed in Costa Mesa a decade earlier.
Raised a few times by planning commissioners is the 11,760 units — at least 6,800 affordable — the state has mandated Costa Mesa plan for in the next decade. Fewer than 400 new units have been built since 2021.
Some residents opposed the development, citing traffic congestion and neighborhood safety. One resident said neighbors already see high traffic living across the street from the proposed site.
Commissioner Robert Dickson supported the project, but added that given the size of the project is going to be hard to please everyone.
In a letter to the commission, one resident urged the planning officials to focus on the site’s surrounding streets. They called for shaded sidewalks, safe bike connections and pedestrian crossings to make for a walkable community along with the new infrastructure.
“Without attention to these elements, there’s a risk this becomes an island of good design surrounded by hostile infrastructure,” they wrote. “If we keep approving high-quality projects in North Costa Mesa without a clear vision for how they stitch together, we’ll end up with a car-dependent patchwork of density – not a coherent, vibrant urban neighborhood.”
Dickson said the car-centric project “acknowledges reality. There are an adequate number of parking spaces and there is a good road system in the area.”
“This area is ripe for housing,” he added.
Commissioner Jon Zich, although impressed by the project’s amenities, said he didn’t believe the location was suitable for the development. Zich said that even with the proposed increase in bike trail access and the public access to the paseos, the development is mainly to the benefit of the residents, rather than the greater community.
“From a municipal standpoint, we have not done the level of planning that is needed in order to be able to say, ‘We should have tens and thousands of residents north of the 405, where we have no parks, where we have no schools, where we have no stores,’” Zich said. “We have no community north of the 405.”
Despite their reservations, the commissioners approved 6-1 to push the project along to the City Council for consideration. Commission Chair Jeffrey Harlan, who supported the proposal, said it is important to look at who will be using that area in the future.
“What this project represents to me is not just a significant investment in the future of the community, but setting a very high standard to do that,” Harlan said. “And while things might not be in place right now, I think this project is gonna serve as the catalyst to develop the area north of the 405.”
The Costa Mesa City Council is expected to consider the project on July 15.