El Toro, CA Real Estate

El Toro makes up a major portion of the city of Lake Forest, in southern Orange County. For years, El Toro was probably best known for the El Toro Marine Air Station, which interestingly enough was just on the outskirts of El Toro, but was actually in Irvine.

Plans were made to turn the air base into an international airport, but a competing ballot proposition to create a park won out, so the airport that would have put El Toro on the map never came to be. At one time, El Toro was considered a military town, but that gradually began to change as new developments sprung up in the 1970’s, and the base closed for good in 1999.

El Toro’s retail area is centered around the junction of El Toro Road and Interstate 5. Along El Toro Road, an extensive group of open air shopping centers and strip malls thrived, but finally grew old and tired. This combined with traffic congestion called for a solution.

After years of planning, the City has worked with the property owners of some of the aging strip malls and developed the "Arbor at Lake Forest" commercial district. Along with traffic improvements, the new center can now compete with the more upscale shopping centers and cities that surround Lake Forest like Mission Viejo, Irvine, and Laguna Hills.

El Toro features a mix of apartments, condos and single family residences, generally going up in price as one drives father into the hills. Much of El Toro is built out, but at the present, the planning commission is still requiring a buffer zone be maintained around the old air base. Eventually, this land should become available for both residential and commercial development.

Most developments in El Toro built since the 1980’s have Home Owner’s Associations established to maintain common areas and enforce architectural and landscape standards, so all potential buyers should have a careful look at the CC&R’s as well as individual neighborhood rules and by-laws.

Heritage Hill Historical Park is home to some of the oldest buildings in the county, including the Serrano Adobe, the old El Toro School House, and St. Georges Episcopal Church.

El Toro High School is the one high school for all of Lake Forest and is one of three high schools in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.  El Toro is easily accessible from Interstate 5 from the Lake Forest or El Toro Road exits. The closest commuter rail station is in Irvine, served by Metrolink and Amtrak.