NEWPORT BEACH : Balboa Bay Club Submits New Plan

Three years after its $60-million expansion plans were rejected by the City Council, the Balboa Bay Club recently submitted to city officials a smaller-scale project that calls for the demolition and reconstruction of most of the club’s facilities.

The new plan, which would be about half as expensive as the 1991 plan, calls for development of a 145-room hotel that would open the club to the public for the first time in its 46-year history. Club owner Beverly Ray is also seeking an extension of the club’s ground lease with the city through the year 2077.

“The real intent is to essentially modernize the Balboa Bay Club (so that it) can remain a focus of activity in Newport Beach,” said Dave Wooten, president of International Bay Clubs, the parent company of the Balboa Bay Club. “It is an old, historic club. We want to preserve the club’s ambience as it is.”

The project’s environmental impact report is undergoing a 45-day public review process and probably will not come up for its first public hearing before the Planning Commission until May 5, city planner John Douglas said.

If approved, the opening phases of demolition might not happen for another three to five years, Wooten said.

The private Balboa Bay Club was built in 1948 and has established itself as an exclusive bay-front haven for the rich and famous, even though it sits on publicly owned property along Mariners Mile on West Coast Highway.

While the club’s proposed hotel, restaurant, ballroom, four conference rooms and bay-front walkways would be open to the public, some doors would remain closed. The new plans foresee building new members-only athletic facilities that would include racquetball courts, a gymnasium, a swimming pool and a private dining area.

“The hotel facilities and the club facilities are kept pretty separate,” Wooten said.

This project, which may cost $20 million to $30 million, Wooten said, is designed to provide “view corridors” so residents who live on the hillside overlooking the highway can still see the harbor. To avoid a repeat of the controversy three years ago, the new facilities on the 13-acre site would not exceed a 35-foot height limit.

The 1991 plan was rejected on a 4-3 vote by the City Council because of opposition from nearby residents. The plans for a 300-room hotel, a ballroom, two cocktail lounges and athletic facilities would have blocked their views of the water and contributed to traffic and congestion on Coast Highway.

“The size and scale was the main objection to the old project,” Wooten said. In 1991, club officials complained that they were denied a fair public hearing when their plans were initially rejected, but Wooten said that discarding the more ambitious plan has become a blessing in disguise.

“The market has changed dramatically since 1990,” he said. “I would not want to sit here with 300 rooms to fill up every day of the year.”

The club membership requires an initiation fee of $1,400 to $4,000, and monthly rents for individual suites fall into a similar price range. The Terrace Apartments, a permanent residence for many club members, would remain untouched during the renovation.

“We have people who have lived here for 10 to 15 years,” Wooten said. “Every room has view of the ocean and the bay. It has 24-hour guard service and parking, and they can utilize the athletic facilities. It is a pretty neat deal.”