Newport Beach : Panel to Study Proposal for $12-Million Project

A renovation project that would replace several old buildings on the Balboa Peninsula with a restaurant and retail development will come under Coastal Commission scrutiny today.

Located across Main Street from the old Fun Zone amusement area that is currently undergoing renovation, the $12-million project would replace two commercial buildings and two vacant duplexes with a development that would incorporate a three-story building and a 237-space, four-story parking complex.

Praveen Gupta, a planner with the state coastal panel, said the development, which also would include retail shops on the 28,000-square-foot site, “would provide a lot of public amenities.”

“This kind of project is to the commission’s liking,” he said. “They are also providing a viewing deck, so that if you don’t want to eat anything you can go up to the third floor and enjoy a view of the bay.”

Gupta said commission approval would carry several conditions, including public access to the observation deck, signs on the deck indicating that it is a public area, a requirement that all commercial uses would serve visitors and an agreement with the developer that soil excavated from the site would be used for beach replenishment, if it proves suitable.

An additional condition for approval, Gupta added, would be a landscaping plan that would maintain the historic character of Main Street. “We have that same condition for the Fun Zone renovation,” he said.

The project, which has already been approved by Newport Beach, “is a great project,” according to Chris Gustin, a Newport Beach city planner. “The mixed restaurant-retail project fills a nice niche for the city.”

Mark Howard, owner of Howard Properties, a Newport Beach-based developer involved in the project, said that demolition of the existing structures could begin in September and that construction would take about nine months to complete. “We should be open by next summer,” Howard said.