The partnership plans to begin construction in January 2005, with completion of the first tower slated for December 2006. To be designed by McLarand Vasquez & Partners International, the project will be called The Plaza-Irvine and will feature 101 homes per tower, with units ranging from approximately 1,200 sf to 4,400 sf. The development will be only the second high-rise condo project under construction in Irvine, where an affiliate of Bosa Development broke ground in July on the 18-story, 232-unit Marquee condo complex.

Paul Marshall, Opus West's SVP for Southern California at the company's regional headquarters in Irvine, tells GlobeSt.com that the Opus-Edmunds condominiums will occupy part of a 13-acre site that Opus is developing along Jamboree Boulevard bordered by Dupont Drive and Campus Drive. Other developments at the 13-acre site will include 341 luxury apartments that Opus will start building this month, and a five-story, 132,000-sf office building that it expects to begin near the end of the first quarter.

The new condo project, Marshall says, reflects the urbanization and evolution of Irvine, which "has become much more of an urbanized core." The choice of the development site for the condos was a crucial factor in the project, he says, explaining, "This is an expensive product to develop. You have to have the right economics, the right location and views, the right amenities, to have it make sense."

The Opus-Edmunds 15-story towers will include two levels of parking and 11 levels of condominiums with balconies. Eight of the condos at each tower will be two-story penthouses with larger balconies, affording views of the San Joaquin Hills, Newport Beach Back Bay and Pacific Ocean. The two towers will be linked by Promenade Terrace, a recreational and entertainment area designed by landscape architect SWA, which will include pools, alcoves, gathering spaces and gardens. The developers describe the design as "similar to a luxurious resort setting" with a fitness center, men's and women's locker rooms, steam rooms, outdoor barbecues, resort-style cabanas, a catering kitchen and "five-star hotel-caliber services," including a concierge.

The condo development will add to more than five million sf of office, industrial, multifamily, condominium and retail space that Phoenix-based Opus West is currently developing or has completed in Orange County, San Diego, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

Edmunds & Associates, headed by Geoffrey H. Edmunds, president, has a long history of building luxury custom homes in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The company's developments include the 464 Prospect luxury condominium project in La Jolla, and Esplanade Place, the first high-rise condominium built in the center of Phoenix's Camelback Corridor business and financial district.