Irvine to consider tougher regulations against industrial warehouses

Many cities would welcome industrial warehouses of 500,000 square feet, but not Irvine, which is considering tougher rules or a complete ban.

The Orange County city is looking to reject a proposal from an affiliate of IRA Capital to build 540,000 square feet of warehouses in the Von Karman Corporate Center at 16715–16969 Von Karman Avenue, in the Irvine Business Complex, the Orange County Register reported.

Beyond the IRA Capital project, the city has called for drafting tougher warehouse regulations or banishing the sprawling buildings altogether.

“Frankly, I have strong doubts that warehouses of the magnitude that have come upon us here can be accommodated anywhere in Irvine,” Mayor Larry Agran said during a recent City Council meeting. “That’s basically five Costcos of warehousing with approaching 100 loading docks for trucks to come and go.

“This seems to me so out of scale that we probably ought to have a prohibition on that kind of thing.”

Agran and Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder co-authored a memo to City Manager Oliver Chi calling for “enhanced warehouse and logistic facility regulations” in the city.

The council voted 4-2 to ask Chi to come back next month with a slate of warehouse regulations to consider. Councilmembers James Mai and Mike Carroll dissented.

Agran and Treseder had teamed up earlier to take a stand against Irvine warehouse development.

In April 2023, they voted for regulations that would have prevented warehouse developments from expanding into new areas of the city, while also giving the city more discretion to reject warehouse proposals based on business activity, square footage and safety and health concerns.

Although the city’s Planning Commission recommended those changes to the council, only Agran and Treseder approved them, with the three other councilmembers opposed. Of those three, only Carroll is left on the council.

Since then, California has enacted legislation to limit where distribution centers can go.

Proponents of Assembly Bill 98, signed last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, say the new regulations will curtail air pollution and traffic from distribution centers. Critics say the new rules will threaten trade and jobs.

Von Alton I, a locally based limited liability company led by Amer Malas, has proposed building two warehouses containing 541,344 square feet at the Von Karman Corporate Center, according to city records and state business filings.

Malas serves as the managing partner of IRA Capital, based in the same office as Von Alton I. IRA Capital bought the 24-acre, 450,000-square-foot Von Karman Corporate Center in February 2023 for $102.4 million, with plans to convert its offices into an industrial hub.

— Dana Bartholomew