Brandywine Plans First Multifamily Project

(Save the date: RealShare Los Angeles comes to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA, on March 27, 2013.) GARDEN GROVE, CA-Developer Brandywine Homes is planning its first multifamily development—the first of four apartment complexes it plans to build in the coming year. In January, the firm will break ground on a 25-unit project consisting of two- and three-bedroom townhomes and flats on .887 acres near Dale St. and Stanford Ave. here. The new construction is expected to help address the affordable-housing shortage in Orange County, where vacancy rates for apartments stand at 5% and rents in some areas are at a record high. The new community will be minutes from the Garden Grove Freeway, the Korean business district and Little Saigon. Residents will have easy access to the Block at Orange, the Westminster Mall, Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

LA JOLLA, CA-International real estate firm Hines and equity partner J.P. Morgan Asset Management are building a 13-story, 415,000-square-foot building at La Jolla Commons here that will become the nation’s largest carbon-neutral office building to date. The new building will achieve carbon neutrality on an annual basis through a combination of high-performance building design, directed biogas and on-site fuel cells that annually will generate more electricity than the building and tenant will use. LPL Financial at La Jolla Commons will be the largest and most ambitious net-zero office building in the U.S. developed for lease. It will be fully leased and occupied by LPL Financial LLC. Construction began in April, and completion is scheduled for mid-2014.