From Asphalt Plant to 1,138 Homes: Inside Gateway Village, Irvine's Newest Neighborhood

For decades, the neighbors complained about it: an asphalt plant sitting too close to their homes, fouling up the air. Most cities would have shrugged and let it sit. Irvine spent $285 million to make it go away — and then turned the land into 1,138 brand-new homes. That’s not a typo. That’s how this city plays the long game.

This week, the fight officially became a win. It’s called Gateway Village, it broke ground on June 23rd, and what’s going up in its place is genuinely exciting. LAist, NBC LA, and the City of Irvine all covered it.

Here’s what’s happening

The old All American Asphalt plant had operated near homes for years. Residents wanted it gone. So the city bought it out — for $285 million. Then the Irvine Company donated another 91 acres on top of that.

Now here’s what’s being built on land the community fought to reclaim:

• 1,138 homes on 70 acres at Portola Parkway and Jeffrey Road
• 287 affordable units — that’s roughly 25% of the community
• A 700-acre Gateway Preserve with 10 miles of hiking and biking trails that connect directly to Cleveland National Forest
• First model homes expected summer 2027

Brookfield Residential and the Irvine Company are the ones building it out — two names with the resources and track record to actually finish what they start.

Why this one is different

I cover a lot of new development in Orange County, and most of it is a shopping center getting reimagined or an office park getting converted. Gateway Village is a neighborhood built from scratch — with a backstory that actually means something.

This is land people spent years trying to clean up. The city didn’t wait around. They spent $285 million to acquire and shut down the plant, then brought in real builders to create something the community actually asked for. That’s a city willing to make hard, expensive, long-term decisions — and that track record is exactly what you want to see if you’re betting on where a place is headed.

Here’s the thing most people miss: the decisions a city makes when nobody’s forcing them are the ones that tell you the most. Nobody made Irvine spend a quarter of a billion dollars to fix an air-quality complaint. They did it because this is a city that manages itself like an asset. And an asset that’s managed that carefully tends to keep going up.

What it means for buyers watching North Irvine

The trail access alone is a big deal — 10 miles of trails feeding straight into Cleveland National Forest is the kind of amenity you usually don’t get inside a master-planned community. Add the scale, the 700-acre preserve, and the location, and this genuinely changes the landscape for North Irvine.

Historically, buyers who get in early on a new master-planned community in a city with Irvine’s track record tend to do well. The early phases of a build-out are often priced before the amenities are fully in and before the neighborhood has a name people recognize. By the time the model homes and the trails and the preserve are all open, the story has usually caught up to the price.

But I get it — “under construction for years” isn’t for everyone, and there’s real peace of mind in buying into something that’s already established.

What this means for you

So here’s the honest stakes on both sides. Wait until Gateway Village is fully built and established, and you get certainty — but you’re likely buying into a completed story, at completed-story prices. Pay attention now, while it’s just breaking ground, and you get the chance to move early in a community backed by real builders in a city that spent $285 million proving it thinks long-term. The trade-off is patience versus price, and only you know which one you value more.

You don’t have to decide today. The low-friction next step is just to get on the radar early — know when the first phases release, what they’re pricing at, and how they compare to what’s already selling nearby. That’s exactly the kind of thing I track, so if North Irvine is on your list, send me a message and I’ll keep you in the loop before the models open.

Irvine turned a decades-old complaint into 1,138 homes and 10 miles of trails. That’s not luck — that’s a city worth betting on.

I’m Sunny Mai, your Southern California Real Estate Guide. Follow for more Irvine updates.