Overview
About Melrose
Melrose covers 16.8 acres and records 165 addresses on a single parcel, 164 of them with a unit designator. Four street names serve it, Melrose, Mulholland, Brindisi and Merano, running 0.87 miles inside the boundary, and the first two are borrowed from Los Angeles. All 16.8 classified acres sit at 6.5 to 14 homes an acre.
The whole boundary lies in flood zone X. Capistrano Unified serves it, and the district's address locator returns Bathgate Elementary at 570 students, Fred Newhart Middle at 1,105 and Capistrano Valley High at 1,991 from every interior point tested.
View available homes in MelroseHistory
How Melrose was built
This Melrose has nothing to do with the Los Angeles avenue of the same name. It is a neighborhood in the southern reaches of Mission Viejo, and its street names break from the Spanish scheme that dominates most of the master-planned community: Le Mans, Chaumont and Bayonne read French, Catania, Merano and Barletta read Italian, and Luzern is Swiss. Most of the surrounding homes went up through the 1980s and into the 1990s, a later wave of building than the Spanish-named neighborhoods that opened in the master plan's first decade.
The Melrose condominium community itself, on Mulholland Court, was built in 1995, 130 units in a traditional two-story style close to Saddleback College and the shopping along the southern edge of the city. It went up in the final years of Philip Morris's ownership of the Mission Viejo Company, two years before the company was sold to J.F. Shea in August 1997, part of the last wave of infill as the original ranch land neared build-out.
By the Numbers
Melrose by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Melrose lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Melrose
Capistrano Unified serves Melrose, and the district's address locator returns Bathgate Elementary, Fred Newhart Middle and Capistrano Valley High at every interior point tested. Enrollment below is the 2024-25 federal count.
9-12 · 1,991 students
6-8 · 1,105 students
K-5 · 570 students
FAQs
Common questions about Melrose
Is Melrose in a fire hazard area?
Tract 14894 states on its face that the property within the tract boundary is in a high fire hazard area due to wildland exposure, and it dedicates an emergency vehicle access easement to the City of Mission Viejo. Confirm the current state hazard designation for a specific address before it matters to an offer.
Are Melrose Drive and Mulholland Court public streets?
No. Tract 14894 records both as private streets, with its lettered lots lying inside them. The tract dedicates an emergency vehicle access easement to the city rather than the roadway itself.
When was Melrose built?
The ground was subdivided in 1993 and 1994. Tract 14894, which covers most of the boundary, was surveyed in December 1993 and recorded in 1994, one of the later communities to go on record in this guide.
Who mapped Melrose?
Crosby, Mead, Benton and Associates, with George L. Benton signing as registered civil engineer 14594. Adams, Streeter Civil Engineers under Jan A. Adams mapped the two smaller tracts that reach into the boundary.
Which schools serve Melrose?
Capistrano Unified, and the district's address locator returns Bathgate Elementary with 570 students, Fred Newhart Middle with 1,105 and Capistrano Valley High with 1,991 at every interior point tested.