Santa Ana Green Lights $3B Related Bristol Mega-Project

What is believed to be the largest private investment in the history of Santa Ana will transform a two-block stretch of the Bristol Street corridor with a massive mixed-use development.

The City Council this week gave Irvine-based Related California the green light to build the project known as Related Bristol, which will rise in phases on 42 acres at one of the busiest intersections in the city.

According to plans approved by the city, Related Bristol will include up to 3,750 residential units, a 250-room hotel, a 200-unit apartment tower for senior living, up to 350K SF of restaurant and shops, a grocery store and a 13-acre park, the Orange County Register reported.

The project will be built on a site currently occupied by two shopping centers and parking lots on both sides of Callen’s Common. Related Bristol will include an underground parking complex.

None of the housing units in the Related Bristol development will be designated as affordable. Instead, Related California will pay the city an in-lieu fee of $18M to be used for affordable housing projects throughout the city. The developer also sent the city a $22M community benefit that will be spent at the direction of the City Council.

The two blocks making up the 42-acre site for Related Bristol are located on the west side of South Bristol Street between MacArthur Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue, across from the 2.8M SF South Coast Plaza-the largest mall in California, located across the city line in Costa Mesa-and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

According to Steven Oh, executive vice president of Related California, the $3B Related Bristol development will be the single largest private investment in Santa Ana’s history, the Register reported.

According to an April report posted on PublicCEO, Santa Ana is well on its way to exceeding the housing element plan goal approved by the state for the amount of new housing that must be built in the city by 2029.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) requires Santa Ana to plan and issue building permits for the construction of 3,137 new housing units between 2021 and 2029.

The city has already issued building permits for 690 units that are affordable to very low, low and moderate-income households, respectively, and 3,487 market-rate units. In total, from January 2021 to December 2023, the City issued 4,177 building permits for housing units, the report said.

“Despite being one of the most densely populated cities in California, the City of Santa Ana has shown that through innovation and political will we can create much-needed new housing opportunities for residents of all income levels,” Mayor Valerie Amezcua said, in a statement.

During the previous eight-year housing element cycle, from 2013 to 2021, Santa was one of only about 20 cities statewide to meet the state’s housing goals.

Over the past 10 years, the city has provided more than $60M in financial assistance to develop 18 affordable housing projects, creating nearly 1,000 units for lower-income residents.

Housing projects in Santa Ana that have been completed since 2021 or are nearing completion include:

La Placita Cinco, a 50-unit affordable development; Legacy Square, a mixed-use development with 93 affordable units; Crossroads at Washington, a 100% affordable development with 85 units currently under construction; The Rafferty, a mixed-use development in the downtown business district with 218 apartments, including 11 units for very low-income families; The Row at Redhill, a mixed-use project with 1,100 apartments; and Paloma, a completed development that offers 309 rental units next to MainPlace Mall.