County Supes Look to Raise El Toro Rents

ORANGE COUNTY, CA-A month after signing a lease to operate the closed El Toro Marine Corps Station, the Board of Supervisors here is looking for ways to make the sprawling facility generate more cash—including hiking the rent charged to the base’s private-sector tenants.

The sprawling South County military base was closed as part of the defense cutbacks during the 1990s. As the base’s new landlord, the board’s tenants include small businesses, farmers and even people who need space to park their recreational vehicles.

County staffers have suggested that many of those lease agreements are at rates that are far below those charged by private-sector landlords. So on Friday, supervisors ordered their staff to perform a market study and to come back with suggestions to wring more money out of the property.

The board’s order also directs staff to recommend ways to put more of the property to use. The county currently utilizes only a fraction of the hundreds of buildings at the massive base, which includes more than 800 homes that currently stand empty. Those houses and apartments could conceivably be sold to buyers or rented to tenants.