Silo Becomes Hotel

Old Town Irvine is not in the heart of the Orange County city of 98,000, but the formerly ramshackle structures at Sand Canyon Avenue and the Santa Ana Freeway are attracting upscale shoppers who like the idea of a hotel made out an old lima bean silo and a fast-food place made from a blacksmith shop.

The $20-million project is being developed on 6.5 acres contributed by the Irvine Co., a partner in the project with Robert B. Smith, James W. Ray, Michael D. Ray and Bernice Anglea. The developers had to walk a fine line between the yuppies of Orange County and the Marines from the nearby El Toro Air Base, not to mention the residents of Leisure World in Laguna Hills.

The Knowlwood restaurant was a working blacksmith shop before it became the home of an upscale fast-food place. The bean silo was transformed into a three-story, 148-room La Quinta Inn. The project also includes Tia Juana’s restaurant and an old general store that is being transformed into a gift shop, according to Tim Sloat, a broker for Scher-Voit Commercial Brokerage Co., the leasing agents.