The 842-space parking garage at 800 San Clemente Drive is gone. In its place, a five-story, 184-unit luxury apartment building is climbing out of the ground, and the Irvine Company says the foundation is now complete.
The expansion of the Villas at Fashion Island will bring the Newport Center community to 708 total units once finished, up from 524 since the complex opened in 2017. City planning records show the project was approved administratively on Nov. 7, 2025, under the North Newport Center Planned Community zoning rules, bypassing Planning Commission and City Council hearings.
"This project takes a site that wasn't serving a specific use and turns it into housing that helps meet the city's needs," associate planner Oscar Orozco told the Orange County Business Journal in May.
What's being built
The building will contain roughly 225,000 square feet of residential space on the 2.2-acre site and stand approximately 68 feet tall, according to the city's Plan Review. The unit mix includes 141 one-bedroom and 43 two-bedroom apartments. Forty-six units will have private decks.
Two levels of underground parking will hold 287 spaces. Amenities include a pool, sauna, fitness center, coworking areas and outdoor courtyards, plus access to the existing community's five pools, clubhouse, yoga studio and dining club, The Real Deal reported.
A traffic study prepared for the project found the building will generate about 835 daily vehicle trips but cause no impacts to intersection service levels through 2029. No new sewer or water line work is required.
Broader Newport Center plans
The Villas expansion is one piece of a larger Irvine Company push to add housing across Newport Center. Newport Beach approved amendments to the PC-56 zoning framework in March 2025, vesting the developer's right to build up to 1,500 residential units within the district.
A second housing community is planned at 100–190 Newport Center Drive, where the company proposes replacing roughly 141,000 square feet of office space with up to 600 apartments in five-story podium buildings. Architecture firm MVE + Partners is designing that project, which remains in the planning phase with no construction start date announced as of July 2026.
As part of its Newport Center development agreement, the Irvine Company has committed to building at least 105 affordable units for very-low or low-income households by 2029. Newport Beach must plan for 4,845 new housing units by that same year under its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment, and Newport Center carries the city's largest share at 2,439 units.
What's next
Demolition of the parking garage began in December 2025, and Irvine Company secured construction permits in approximately April 2026. The project is expected to wrap up by early 2028, according to development tracking by local real estate analysts. Rents at the existing Villas community start around $5,195 per month based on broker listings; pricing for the new units has not been announced.
