The Surf Still Meets the Turf at Del Mar : Horse racing: But the facility has undergone many changes during a two-year, $80 million grandstand renovation.

As one Del Mar racing official moaned early last summer, if all the termites supporting the old grandstand had decided to drop hands, the whole structure would have tumbled down.

Clearly, that is not the case now. The new $80-million, six-story facility is built to withstand earthquakes, fires, floods, crowds of more than 40,000 and, the administration hopes, public reaction to the track’s new look.

The original grandstand, cozy and charming and a stone’s throw from the ocean, was built under the ownership of Bing Crosby and Pat O’Brien in 1937. Through a patchwork of additions and renovations, the 1991 version measured 300,000 square feet and held 9,600 seats. The original wooden columns, though nearly rotted away, still supported the single-tiered structure.

“It was about to fall down. It had been for a long time. Everybody knew it,” said Fred Hummel, who in 1968 as the state architect drew up a master plan to rebuild the place.

Hummel, now under contract to the state’s project development department to oversee the reconstruction, added: “When we finally tore it down, we found it was more unsound than anyone would have guessed.”

Demolition began the day after the end of the 1991 Del Mar meeting, with a long list of requirements set by the 22nd District Agricultural Assn., which owns the property, and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which leases it. Not only did the new Del Mar have to meet California’s most stringent seismic codes, it had to have double the capacity--including VIP sections--and more bars, restaurants and restrooms to accommodate growing crowds.

Retaining the original Old Spanish Mission style was mandatory, as was greater versatility. All this had to be done without missing a day of racing and within a budget. And a few more ocean views would be nice, too.

Now, fans are enjoying the result: a 500,000 square-foot, steel-framed structure that offers 14,300 seats, three restaurant-sized kitchens, 34 bars and 636 mutuel windows.

When the public tried the partially complete grandstand in 1992, it received a thumbs down. The original Turf Club and clubhouse stood beside the new general admission area, and the torrent of complaints and bad reviews seemed unstoppable.

Only the first, second and sixth floors were open, meaning even fewer seats than in previous years. The track compounded the problem by selling seats behind the wide poles holding up the roof. The wall in the front of each section of box seats was too tall to see over, and Turf Club members had obstructed views where the new, taller section blocked the homestretch.

One Daily Racing Form columnist compared the new building to a breadbox, and the word was out that the beautiful, ivy-covered paddock was going next.

“It was a public relations nightmare. We knew it going in,” said Joe Haper, president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which operates the race meeting. “But I think we made the right choice.”

The other option was to run the 1992 racing dates at Los Alamitos, which would allow construction to continue from September 1991 through to this year’s opening day. Track officials chose a stop-and-go schedule and, after the project began, they decided to speed up the plans. Originally a three-year project, it was completed in two.

“There were no amenities last year--no trees or fountains,” Harper said. “It was all asphalt. There was no character.”

The contractor thinned the poles--which are necessary to meet seismic codes--and painted them black to be less noticeable, and lowered the walls at the front of each section.

Morio Kow, a Los Angeles-based architect, is most responsible for the new look. Having worked on Keeneland, Turf Paradise and Exhibition Park, Kow called on lessons from his other race track redesigns to draw the initial plans in 1985.

To avoid a six-story vertical wall, Kow scaled back the face of the building in a series of balconies and terraces, which hold potted palms and overflow with bougainvillea. The balconies overlook the distant Pacific Ocean and a European-style paddock, which is visible from each floor and centered between the grandstand and clubhouse sections.

While the new paddock is more accessible to fans, horsemen’s reactions have been mixed. A cement floor was installed for use during the recent Del Mar Fair and then covered with rubber and bark.

One trainer commented that a horse getting loose there would be gone.

In the old grandstand, nothing existed behind the seats at the top. People sitting there had to walk down to ground level for concessions or mutuel windows.

“We wanted to distribute the crowd better,” Kow said. “We wanted places for the TV watchers and to create rooms on the roof to encourage companies to bring people out for meetings and a day at the races.”

Two rooftop decks enclose the string of party rooms on the sixth floor. The easternmost room is twice the size of the others and will eventually house a top-flight restaurant--a Wolfgang Puck creation, if Harper has his way. Luxury boxes, bought for the entire meeting, line the back of the Turf Club on the fifth floor.

“We had to work to put the character back in,” Harper said. “One of the problems with a 500,000 square-foot building is that it’s going to look like a parking (garage), especially with all this open space, high ceilings and concrete.”

Harper replaced the original design team immediately after closing day last fall because of a persistent communication problem. He hired Dale Forbes, a designer of residential and office space. She had never done a commercial project of this magnitude, but knew Harper from previous work on Del Mar’s executive offices.

Forbes quickly brought in creative designer Paul Schatz and interior architect Jean-Louis Coquereau, who usually work together. Beginning in November 1992, the three set out “to recapture the warmth of the old Del Mar.” Every room needed its own character. Every person attending the races needed to be able to find his or her own place.

Working from an office on the track’s sixth floor, on a budget of $1.8 million, Forbes, Schatz and Coquereau replaced white acoustic tile and fluorescent lights with arched ceilings and recessed lighting. Alcoves and decorative Spanish tiles filled in the hallways and bar fronts. Wall glazes and scenic murals covered blank walls.

“The place cried out for hand-carved wood and handmade furniture,” Forbes said. But a minimal budget forced them to be more creative and to look harder for what they needed. Many pieces were found in Mexico.

And working with a time constraint during construction compounded the difficulties.

“Everyone just made the commitment that we want it gorgeous,” Forbes said. “You hear such horror stories about working with the state, but we were backed 200%.”

With Hummel representing the state’s interests, and the other architects and the designers taking office space and working on-site, decisions were made locally.

Kow also applauded the teamwork. “It’s amazing that this was done in two years,” the architect said. “There was no pooping around. All decisions were made on site, not in Sacramento.”

Further expansion is possible. Plans are ready for another 5,000 seats, which could be added easily to the west end.

Rumors of additional racing dates, fueled by the $80-million price tag and the near doubling in size, continue to be heard, even though the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is legally restricted to seven weeks.

In a unique lease arrangement with the state’s 22nd District Agriculture Assn., the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club operates the race meeting and pays rent with profits from live racing, satellite wagering and concessions. The funds are designated for improving the facility. As Harper explains, neither the 22nd District Agriculture Assn. nor the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has to justify the new grandstand if they can pay for it.

“We had $20 million in the bank and we can generate $7 million a year, and that’s a conservative estimate,” Harper said. “The banks loved us.”

The increased size doesn’t necessarily signal additional racing dates. The 22nd District Agricultural Assn. plans to use the building in the off-season for concerts, conferences, art shows and the Del Mar Fair, which this year attracted 1 million people.

And the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club could apply for quarter horse or harness racing or bow out and let more thoroughbred dates be held under the auspices of the 22nd District Agriculture Assn. as a fair meeting.

A future three-day Breeders’ Cup meeting, while still only legal as a fair meeting or if the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club gives up days during its regular meeting, has been considered by the track’s directors.

“Del Mar is absolutely perfect for the Breeders’ Cup,” Harper said. “We’ve got VIP sections, seats galore, the weather and hotels and restaurants during the off-season.”

Del Mar will be considered, as will many other tracks, a representative of the Breeders’ Cup Assn. said. Sites for racing’s championship day have already been chosen through 1996. And the Breeders’ Cup location committee will want to see how the new Del Mar weathers this season.

Most members of the reconstruction team believe the new facility exceeds expectations, but they are also happy to have the work finished.

“We’re talking about an eight-year project, and it took about 20 out of my life,” Kow said with a laugh.