NEWPORT BEACH : Hopes High After Fun Zone Face Lift

On any summer day, there is a wide variety of people walking along the Balboa Boardwalk between Main Street and the Ferris wheel.

But look again, and it is apparent that those people are not buying much, according to merchants who rely on summer sales to pay their rent for the entire year.

At the center of all this inactivity is the Balboa Fun Zone.

With the carousel, Ferris wheel, bumper cars, arcades and vacant retail space, the miniature amusement park has received a $200,000 face lift that merchants hope will revive a business climate that has been sagging for three straight years.

“We want to put the ‘fun’ back in the Fun Zone,” said Mark Teale, the architect hired to redesign the park. “Things have stagnated, and we want to propel it.”

Built above a parking garage about four feet above the busy boardwalk, the Fun Zone was largely cut off from people strolling the boardwalk. This month workers hired by the facility’s management company reconfigured storefronts and enlarged the stairway connecting the Fun Zone to the Boardwalk.

“We have solved the access problem,” said Sandra Quilty, president of Commercial Center Management, which manages the Fun Zone.

Quilty said her firm is trying to entice arcade companies, which specialize in virtual reality computer technology, and national restaurant franchises to the Fun Zone.

“By next spring, we hope to have this place full,” said Quilty, referring to several prominent vacancies in the complex.

That may not be easy in an area that has seen many businesses lose money because of high rent and lopsided seasonal sales.

“The number (of customers) may be the same, but people are skimping a little bit,” said Al Lawrence, owner of Marina Sailing, a boat charter operation. “I have been here five years--you kind of expected things to turn around by now.”

Five years ago, Japan-based Doo & Sons bought the Fun Zone complex for $10 million. The company proceeded to lose about $250,000 a year before forfeiting the property last year to American Savings Bank, Quilty said.

The face lift, paid for by the bank with Doo & Sons money, was completed this month.

“We have an overall view of what we want,” said Leslie Harris, marketing director for Commercial Center Management. “Now we just have to put it into practice.”