Jackie Krentzman is a Bay Area-based writer and editor.    

Usually, when new housing developments go up in California, a private developer finances and manages the planning, building, and construction. The city works with the developer on permitting, infrastructure, and, sometimes, financing.

Gateway Village in Irvine, which broke ground in June, is different. The city is responsible for not just the community’s metaphorical foundations — the nearby parks, schools, and businesses — but the literal foundations of the new homes. The city will prepare the building pads and sell the land to its development partner, Brookfield Residential. The 80-acre development will eventually have over 1,100 homes — a quarter marked as affordable — next to a 700-acre open space preserve.

“It is so forward-thinking for a city to take on this role,” says Brookfield Regional President Nicole Burdette. “It’s unusual to see a city think creatively and progressively like this. It has been incredible for us to see how well the city has been able to successfully work through what is always a very challenging process.”

The gold standard of a public-private partnership

The Irvine village model, pioneered by the Irvine Company, has been acknowledged as one of the most influential master-planned communities in the U.S. The Orange County city is an outgrowth of the 19th-century Irvine Ranch, which the founder’s descendants began developing into a full-fledged city in the 1960s.

Rather than expanding through piecemeal subdivisions, the company designed Irvine as a series of self-contained villages, each with housing, schools, parks, shopping, and community services.

“Gateway Village is a continuation of the village model, and in fact, will be one of the last chapters in this story of conversion from Irvine Ranch lands into new communities,” says Pete Carmichael, assistant city manager.

What started as a planned community of 50,000 is now a city of nearly 320,000. Irvine consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the U.S., and one of the safest cities with over 250,000 residents in the U.S. Mayor Larry Agran credits not only Irvine’s master planning roots, but public-private partnerships like Gateway Village for its success.

“Gateway Village is the gold standard of a public-private partnership and helps fill the gap in housing that exists when a master-planned city is near completion,” says Agran.

But Gateway Village was decades in the making in more ways than one. Nearby residents had long expressed concern about air quality and emissions from a nearby asphalt plant. The city purchased the plant in 2024 and tore it down to make way for the new Gateway community and open space preserve.

Next, the Irvine Company donated 80 acres to the city for the new homes. The city will sell the land to Brookfield, which is building and selling the homes. The city and Brookfield will share in sale proceeds, ensuring that most of the revenue flows back to the city. If the home sales perform better than expected, the city receives an additional share of the profits. The development is slated to open in 2028.

The city is partnering with the nonprofit Irvine Ranch Conservancy to develop a 700-acre nature preserve, along with the extension of a nearby trail to a new trailhead at Gateway Village. The preserve is being financed by a combination of developer fees, nonprofit grants, city capital improvement funds, and state grants.

“This is just one of many examples demonstrating how the city has developed an amazing open space program,” says Mike O’Connell, Irvine Ranch Conservancy president and CEO. “It is no wonder it consistently ranks at the top in the U.S. in terms of its open space and parks.”

Lofty goals

While Gateway Village represents one of the last master planned villages in the city, Irvine has many more housing units in its sights. According to the state, Irvine needs to add 23,000 housing units by 2029. To date, developers have submitted applications for 9,000 units.

Mayor Agran says the city is confident that it will marshal all its resources to bring as many of those units online as soon as possible, while also maintaining a high quality of life for its residents.

“The city council will continue to evaluate opportunities for land swaps, zoning updates, incentives, and public-private deals that could yield more housing in this highly desirable city,” he says. “While increasing housing is needed, our primary goal is to ensure the exceptional quality of life Irvine offers.”

The city is studying the feasibility of building up to 57,000 additional units — roughly a fifth earmarked as affordable — throughout the city.

“We are working hard to ensure that we respect the master planning principles so fundamental to our success as a city while accommodating smart growth, including housing near jobs, transit, and infrastructure,” Carmichael, the assistant city manager, says.

Given their experience working with Irvine, partners are confident that Irvine will achieve many of its goals.

“Irvine has a commitment to excellence in everything it does,” says O’Connell, the conservancy president. “They want to have the best school system, the best open space system, the best bikeways. It has this amazing spirit of innovation that allows it to be able to do creative things, and working with them on the Gateway Preserve and the Jeffrey Open Space Trail is a prime example of the city’s views, values, and abilities.”