Dana Point, Calif., is a coastal city in Orange County best known for its harbor. Lately, the city’s downtown area has become more appealing to visitors and residents alike, thanks in part to redevelopment that has created more live-work-play options. Prado West is one such project. This mixed-use development on 2.3 acres consists of three buildings that encompass 32,500 sf of retail and restaurant space, 109 apartments with 50 floor plans, and a 24-hour fitness center.
The developer, Raintree Partners, had owned this site for a while, and was on board with the city’s vision to regenerate its downtown area, says Michael Heinrich, a Principal with AO, the architectural design firm that was the design architect and AOR on this project.
Raintree, he adds, “was not the typical multifamily client we usually work with. But it always intended for the project to be mixed use.”
Smoothing a hilly site
Prior to Prado West’s emergence, this site was an assemblage of buildings and parking spaces that included a post office and distribution center (both of which Raintree tried, unsuccessfully, to acquire). The site’s “urban character” was “pretty sparse,” recalls Heinrich, with its collection of sheds for street merchants.
The triangular site was sloped, and required a considerable amount of grading to make Prado West work, especially for the retail stores and restaurants. Heinrich notes, too, that the project required subterranean parking under a street called Amber Lantern that needed to be rebuilt.
(The building team on Prado West included W.E. O’Neil Construction (GC), Psomas (CE), Hendy (interior design), Nova Services (geotechnical engineer), and GMP Land Architecture (landscape architect)).
Scaled to its surroundings
The 3- and 4-story-tall buildings at Prado West had to stay within a prescribed 40-ft height limit, and the building team conducted a story pole analysis using cranes to make sure the buildings wouldn’t block residents’ seaside views.
AO, says Heinrich, does a lot of shopping mall renovations the incorporate residential to create a sense of place, like a village. At Prado West, the plaza is open to the city and is available for community events. I’m all for this,” says Heinrich about this kind of access, noting that the plaza is well lighted so there’s less concern about security.
This project followed form-based zoning, and AO did a unit plan that was almost like condos: the apartment sizes go up to 1,200 sf, with 100 ft of patio.
Heinrich says that among the takeaways from Prado West were “we learned about putting retail on a hilly site. And because this is a coastal town, the design had to be sensitive to appearance,” meaning that the buildings were scaled to seem smaller than their actual mass.
At the same time Prado West was under construction, the city was renovating the mile-long stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway that runs through downtown, widening the road to two lanes both ways, adding new curbing and planting new palm trees.
“It’s beautiful,” says Heinrich, “and I can see Dana Point finally fulfilling its vision.
Related Stories
MFPRO+ Special Reports | Jan 4, 2024
Top 10 trends in multifamily rental housing
Demographic and economic shifts, along with work and lifestyle changes, have made apartment living preferable for a wider range of buyers and renters. These top 10 trends in multifamily housing come from BD+C's 2023 Multifamily Annual Report.
Mixed-Use | Nov 29, 2023
Mixed-use community benefits from city amenities and ‘micro units’
Salt Lake City, Utah, is home to a new mixed-use residential community that benefits from transit-oriented zoning and cleverly designed multifamily units.
Sustainability | Nov 20, 2023
8 strategies for multifamily passive house design projects
Stantec's Brett Lambert, Principal of Architecture and Passive House Certified Consultant, uses the Northland Newton Development project to guide designers with eight tips for designing multifamily passive house projects.
Affordable Housing | Nov 16, 2023
Habitat receives approval for $400 million affordable housing redevelopment
Chicago-based Habitat, a leading U.S. multifamily developer and property manager, announced that its $400 million redevelopment of Marine Drive Apartments in Buffalo, N.Y., has received planned unit development (PUD) approval by the Buffalo Common Council.
Laboratories | Nov 8, 2023
Boston’s FORUM building to support cutting-edge life sciences research and development
Global real estate companies Lendlease and Ivanhoé Cambridge recently announced the topping-out of FORUM, a nine-story, 350,000-sf life science building in Boston. Located in Boston Landing, a 15-acre mixed-use community, the $545 million project will achieve operational net zero carbon upon completion in 2024.
Retail Centers | Nov 7, 2023
Omnichannel experiences, mixed-use development among top retail design trends for 2023-2024
Retailer survival continues to hinge on retail design trends like blending online and in-person shopping and mixing retail with other building types, such as offices and residential.
Condominiums | Nov 6, 2023
Douglas Elliman launches its first Metro D.C. condominium project
Douglas Elliman, one of the largest independent residential real estate brokerages in the United States, announced last week that the firm will be handling the sales and marketing for Ten501 at City Centre West.
Mass Timber | Oct 27, 2023
Five winners selected for $2 million Mass Timber Competition
Five winners were selected to share a $2 million prize in the 2023 Mass Timber Competition: Building to Net-Zero Carbon. The competition was co-sponsored by the Softwood Lumber Board and USDA Forest Service (USDA) with the intent “to demonstrate mass timber’s applications in architectural design and highlight its significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment.”
Affordable Housing | Oct 20, 2023
Cracking the code of affordable housing
Perkins Eastman's affordable housing projects show how designers can help to advance the conversation of affordable housing.
Luxury Residential | Oct 18, 2023
One Chicago wins 2023 International Architecture Award
One Chicago, a two-tower luxury residential and mixed-use complex completed last year, has won the 2023 International Architecture Award. The project was led by JDL Development and designed in partnership between architecture firms Goettsch Partners and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.