Developer plans walkable neighborhood in Newport Beach
Uptown Newport Village will replace two industrial buildings with a walkable neighborhood of shops, restaurants, parks and upscale housing. Newport Beach, one of Southern California's most affluent cities, is about to transform an industrial area near John Wayne Airport into a distinctly urban community of homes and shops. Uptown Newport Village will replace a pair of aging industrial buildings on 25 acres near the airport with a walkable neighborhood of shops, restaurants, parks and upscale homes and apartments, according to Shopoff Group, an Irvine developer. Mayor Rush N. Hill, who is an architect, said he is excited about the project and pleased that it will be a dense neighborhood by local standards. "It's a relatively new kind of product for us with respect to density and height," he said. "We look at this as a great stride forward in walkable communities. We think it's very appropriate for the area." The first phase of the project will cost ...