The Irvine Co.: Orange County’s largest landowner...

The Irvine Co.: Orange County’s largest landowner is seeking municipal approval to build a shopping complex near Newport Center in Newport Beach that would include 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. The center, tentatively called Newport Pavilion, would “fill the niche between Fashion Island and the Corona del Mar shops,” said Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick. The proposed center would be built on a site once occupied by Merle’s Drive-in, a popular eatery during the 1950s and 1960s. Construction would not begin for at least a year.