Recapturing the Romance : Redevelopment Plans for Casa Romantica Include Ocean-View Dining, Vacation Resort
First it was a home, the luxurious Spanish-styled villa of city founder Ole Hanson that was frequented by movie stars and millionaires during the late 1920s.
Many years later, the bluff-top mansion with views of the city pier and shoreline became a retirement home.
More recently, it’s been a popular site for weddings and other social events, and home to a small museum dedicated to Hanson and Richard Nixon, whose Western White House at Cotton’s Point brought much fame to the city in the 1970s.
However, since the city Redevelopment Agency bought the Casa Romantica for $2.5 million in 1989, no one is quite sure what will come next for the grand old mansion, widely seen as the most important landmark of the city’s colorful history.
Should it house a restaurant or the center of a vacation resort? What about the San Clemente Historical Society, which wants to expand its fledgling museum?
Such questions may be answered soon.
After years of planning sessions and hearings involving hundreds of local residents, city officials are seeking a development proposal to achieve two main goals: restore the 20-room Casa Romantica, built in 1928, to its original splendor and add tourism-related development next to city-owned land that would provide a boost to the local economy. The community of about 43,000 people attracts more than 1.5 million visitors each year to its beaches.
“It’s been a torturous process, but we’re finally making some progress,” said James Holloway, the city’s community development director.
Maureen Capielo Gates, who leases the mansion from the city for about $9,600 a month for her wedding business, is being given the first opportunity to make a proposal.
Gates, in cooperation with the San Clemente Historical Society, is working on a plan she thinks will win support in a community that has vocally fought other development projects in the seaside Pier Bowl district.
The preliminary plan, still being shaped, would restore the house and keep it open for weddings, community events and the Historical Society’s expanded museum.
A second part of the plan relies heavily on time shares, vacation resorts where condominium ownership is sold by the week or more. Under the proposal, Gates would add 30 time-share vacation units on land north of the mansion and 20 units below on a vacant lot off Alameda Lane, within walking distance of the pier and beach.
An ocean-view restaurant and shops also would be built on the Alameda Lane property, along with underground parking on each site. From the city pier, the Casa Romantica would look just the same, Gates said.
“This is the least intense development that has been proposed for this property,” Gates said. “I’m going to protect the casa. That’s my whole goal.”
With money generated from the time-share development and investors, Gates proposes at a minimum to pay the Redevelopment Agency back for the money it invested to buy the Casa Romantica and Alameda Lane properties. The Casa Romantica would be placed under the management of a nonprofit foundation to ensure its preservation, she said.
The total cost for the project hasn’t been estimated yet, although it would cost about $3.3 million to pay the city for the two properties, Gates said. A time-share company hasn’t been lined up yet for the project.
The city Redevelopment Agency pays an average of $340,000 a year toward the purchase price of the mansion, which covers about 2.4 acres, according to city officials. The Alameda Lane property, which is nearly one acre, cost the city Redevelopment Agency about $875,000 in 1987.
Harry Root, a lawyer and Historical Society member working with Gates on the project, said the mansion would live up to its romantic name under the plan, with the emphasis on weddings and ocean-view vacation condos.
“San Clemente, hopefully, someday would be known as the romance capital of the world,” Root said. “It would be the heart of Orange County.”
Romance, however, has not always been in mind when it comes to development proposals in the Casa Romantica area. And Gates’ proposal must still undergo public scrutiny once it is submitted to the city.
In 1990, the Los Angeles-based Ratkovich Co., discouraged by staunch opposition, withdrew plans to build a 160-room hotel complex on the city-owned property next to the Casa Romantica.
The project also included 60 condominiums, an underground parking garage, restaurants, boutiques and offices.
Opponents fought the 275,000-square-foot project, saying it would have caused unbearable traffic congestion, eliminated the ocean view from Avenida del Mar--the entrance route to the pier area--and destroyed the ambience of the Casa Romantica.
Less than a year later, the City Council asked planners to work with the community and create a general plan to guide redevelopment throughout the 56-acre Pier Bowl, which includes residential and commercial properties.
The council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, finally approved the Pier Bowl plan earlier this month, and asked Gates for a specific proposal for the Casa Romantica.
Gates has until February to submit a proposal to the Redevelopment Agency.
The proposal would then be scrutinized by a special five-member committee before it is sent to the agency board.
So far, there has been scant community reaction to her proposal.
Should redevelopment officials ultimately reject the plan, the city would seek proposals from other developers.
The proposal from Gates is the only one being considered at this time.
Any plan considered by the agency also would be subject to review from the public and California Coastal Commission.
“We don’t want another false start,” said David N. Lund, the city’s new economic development manager and member of the review committee. “We want to be real careful how we approach this.”
