HUNTINGTON BEACH : Construction of 80 Condos at PCH OKd

The City Council this week approved plans for construction of 80 condominiums on Pacific Coast Highway and two commercial buildings downtown near the municipal pier.

Plans for the commercial buildings fall about 200 parking spaces short of requirements, and final approval depends on whether the city can win California Coastal Commission permission to reduce the city’s parking standards to accommodate the project.

This week’s council action allows the Coultrup Development Co. to build a three-story condominium above a subterranean and street-level parking structure along Pacific Coast Highway between 5th and 6th streets.

The two commercial buildings, which will contain offices, stores and a restaurant, will each contain about 40,000 square feet. One will be built on Pacific Coast Highway at 5th Street, the other on Main Street next to the Jack’s Surf Boards building, which is under construction.

Council members also voted to reimburse the Coultrup Development Co. $200,000 for costs involved in the project, which has been in preparation for three years. A Coultrup official said the new construction and rehabilitation will cost about $16 million. The city’s redevelopment agency has spent about $5 million to acquire land for the condominium project.

Councilman Earle Robitaille said the development, which will require replacing several buildings dating to the 1920s, is overdue. The project “may not be an A; it may only be only a C-plus. But it’s a heck of a lot better than what we have down there,” he said.

Councilman Ralph Bauer attacked the project for its parking shortage and housing density and claimed that condominiums won’t pay for required city services. “It’s a nightmare, a disaster, and it’s about time to put this project out of its misery,” he said.

Only Councilman David Sullivan voted with Bauer to kill the project. Mayor Grace Winchell and council members Linda Moulton-Patterson, Victor Leipzig and Jim Silva voted with Robitaille to approve the plans.