Newport Dunes Sheds Its Old Look

If you haven’t driven by Newport Dunes lately, you’re in for a surprise. The 1950s boat and trailer park, with its cracked and peeling aqua-marine buildings, has been replaced by a tiled-roof Mediterranean village, complete with grocery store, clubhouse, pool and spa.

Renovation of Newport Dunes, a project planned for more than 10 years, began last February, and work on the first phase was completed this month.

The park, originally built in 1958, offers the only public boat-launching ramp between Huntington Harbour and Dana Point. The ramp is the only part of the park that has not been rebuilt, according to Kris Jamtass, general manager.

The rest of Newport Dunes, including the boat-storage area and trailer park, was demolished to make way for the new. “The uses of the park are similar to the uses in the past,” says Jamtass. “But everything has been upgraded with first-class guest services and state-of-the-art recreation facilities for guests of all ages.”

The 100-acre park still boasts 10 acres of sandy beaches and a 25-acre swimming lagoon, but its crumbling, old 195-space trailer park has been expanded into a 405-space, full-service facility, with many of the new sites set at water’s edge. In addition, the park still has 400 dry-storage spaces for trailer boats.

The new six-building village center features a grocery store, laundry room, snack bar, clubhouse and meeting rooms. The swimming area has its own lifeguard station and a nearby snack shop is scheduled to open in June. A coffee shop, located near the boat-launch ramp, is scheduled to open March 1, according to Jamtass.

“The project was designed around a multi-use concept,” says Jamtass, “for boat guests, RV guests, day use and for group functions, including outdoor picnics.”

The park has 20 cabanas, designed for small, family-group picnics, and four pavilions, which can accommodate up to 200 people for an outdoor gathering. “We’ve even had formal black-tie dinners out here,” says Jamtass.

The redesigned Dunes is centered around the swimming lagoon, which is ringed by a boardwalk, picnic tables and restrooms. Water-sport activities now include paddle-boating, windsurfing and sailing. Plans call for a pedestrian bridge, which will be built at the mouth of the lagoon, linking the boat-launch area to the marina. Also during phase one, a bicycle trail was added around the park’s perimeter that connects with trails in Upper Newport Bay.

Until the recent $15-million renovation, the look and physical layout of Newport Dunes had remained virtually unchanged since the park opened in 1958. Approval to renovate the park took 10 years of planning and negotiating to win city, county and state approvals.

Renovation consists of three phases. With the first phase now virtually complete, phase two, set to get under way this spring, calls for doubling the size of the existing marina and building a full-service restaurant on the site of the former Anthony’s Pier II Restaurant. During the final phase, a three-story, 275-room Family Inn will be built.

“Everybody keeps asking me when the hotel will be finished,” Jamtass say. “But I have no date on that. That’s somewhere in the future.”

Total costs for all three phases is expected to run around $45 million.

Newport Dunes is owned and operated by Evans Hotels in San Diego. The company holds a 50-year lease on the county-owned land.

Fees for park use are $5 per car for day use. RV sites cost $20 to $40 a day, depending upon season and location. The rental rate for cabanas is $35 a day, and the large pavilions cost between $300 and $500 a day. Boat-storage rates are $5 per foot per month.

Slip rental fees are $12 to $14 per foot, and the park will be taking applications soon for the 230 slips it expects to add to the marina.

Shearlean Duke is a regular contributor to Orange County Life. On the Waterfront appears each Saturday, covering boating life styles as well as ocean-related activities along the county’s 42-mile coastline.