The city of Irvine, California, has given the go-ahead to the sale of 70 acres slated for mostly single-family homes to Canadian investment giant Brookfield.

The sale of the land is part of a plan by the city to convert the land around a former asphalt plant site into green space and housing, the Orange County Register reported.

The money generated by the sale, which could reach $654M, would be used to pay off the financing that facilitated the sale and offset the closure of the plant. The sale is expected to close within six months, a city official told the Register.

The 70-acre property at the northeast corner of Jeffrey Road and Portola Parkway would become the Gateway Village, "one of the last single-family residential villages in Irvine," according to the Register.

That village would be quite large, with around 1,200 single-family homes and roughly 300 covenanted affordable units spread throughout the project. It's unclear whether the homes will be for sale or built to rent. A representative for Brookfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bisnow.

Construction is expected to get underway as early as 2026, with home sales beginning in 2027, according to the Register.

In February, the median price of an Orange County home was up 17% year-over-year to a record high of $1.1M, according to CoreLogic data. The market ended 2023 with three straight quarters of rent growth and, at year-end, up 4.1% year-over-year and 28% above pre-pandemic levels, according to a Q4 2023 report from Colliers.