The nation’s third-largest home builder won an unprecedented federal auction Wednesday to buy the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine, setting the stage for 3,400 new homes in the heart of Orange County and dashing the last hopes for an international airport there.
Bidding $649.5 million for 3,718 acres or approximately $174,000 per acre, Miami-based Lennar Corp. won the property in an online auction that the Defense Department has pledged to use as a model for the sale of future closed military bases. Previously, closed bases were transferred to local governments at little or no cost.
Based on these numbers the Ford Ord base which has 28,000 acres would be worth at least 28 billion dollars.
