Last call for a few good bidders

Alicia Robinson

Bidding on two parcels at the closed El Toro Marine Air Corps Station

reached $419.5 million as of Friday afternoon, and the auction was

slated to continue on Monday until 3 p.m. The leading bidder at press

time was Miami-based Lennar Corp., which already won two other

parcels at the former base with minimum bids.

The Navy put the base property up for sale in an online auction

that began Jan. 5 and was slated to close Wednesday, but the auction

rules say bids coming in on the final day keep the auction open for

another 24 hours. Bidding on the two parcels still up for sale will

be closed on the weekend and reopen Monday morning.

Some of the property will be devoted to the “Great Park,” which

displaced a possible airport as a use for the land when Orange County

voters in 2002 chose to rezone the land for a park.

Lennar’s plans for its two parcels include mixed-use developments,

with more than 1,000 homes, 2.6 million square feet of

research/development and industrial space, an auto center and retail

and agricultural space, said Emile Haddad, Lennar’s regional

president for California. The company’s developments at El Toro

should start to become available in 2007.