NEWPORT BEACH : Balboa Bay Club Rebuilding OKd

As expected, the City Council on Monday night unanimously approved plans to demolish and rebuild much of the luxurious Balboa Bay Club.

Club officials say the extensive remodeling effort will open the 46-year-old private club to the public for the first time and give it a more modern look.

“It was fabulous,” Beverly Ray, owner of the Balboa Bay Club, said of the Monday meeting. “There was such an outpouring of support for the plan.”

Dozens of residents and local business owners spoke in favor, saying the design will improve the club’s look and open up views from houses perched on the inland bluffs overlooking the club and the ocean.

The project calls for an expansion of the club from 155,000 square feet to 189,000 square feet and will add a members-only athletic facility and a public restaurant, coffee shop, two bars, a ballroom and four conference rooms, said Dave Wooten, club president.

There will also be a waterfront garden, public walkways and a hotel open to the public.

Three years ago, a $60-million plan to remodel the Balboa Bay Club was rejected by the City Council because it would have made the club too large. That plan, which would have nearly doubled the size of the club, drew vehement opposition from nearby residents whose views of the ocean and the harbor would have been obstructed by new, larger structure. The City Council rejected the plan on a 4-3 vote.

This time around, dozens of residents who live within sight of the club were more agreeable to the club’s revamped efforts.

“People have said that the Bay Club is controversial. I don’t think that is so,” Ray said.

Ray said she walked Kings Road about three months ago in an effort to convince residents that the new plans would not only modernize the club but, in many cases, improve their ocean view.

“We knew what people’s concerns were,” Ray said, explaining why the new plans passed the council without much controversy.