Coastal Commission OKs Lido House Hotel expansion project

Construction for the Lido House hotel expansion project in Newport Beach will begin in about nine months now that the plans were approved Thursday by the Coastal Commission, according to owner Bob Olson.

The hotel opened in April 2018 in the footprint of what was Newport Beach City Hall. The expansion will now push into the old firehouse property on 32nd Street, adding roughly 15,000 square feet to the property.

“We’re very happy that the Coastal Commission approved our expansion plan,” said Olson. “We are adding five guest cottages on the back. The cottages have been a great success for the hotels and the community. What they will be are two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, full kitchens, a rooftop barbecue — everything that you need to live at the beach in Newport Beach. What we did last time was have five different local interior designers design each cottage in their own interpretation of the lifestyle of Newport Beach, and we are looking forward to doing that with the next five.”

Olson said construction would be conducted in phases to limit impacts to guests.

“We think it’s a great addition to Lido House, and [the hotel] has been what we feel is a tremendous success,” he said. “We competed for tearing down the old City Hall back in 2013 and we won that, and I think the community would say that we delivered more than what our proposal set out. We’ve had great reception from our local community as well as our regional community and worldwide travelers.

“We’re very proud to have delivered what we do and continue to want to make it better in every way that we can, and so this is a big step towards that.”

In addition to the cottages, the project will include more storage space, expanded breakout meeting rooms, a greenhouse room with seating, expansion of three hotel rooms and an enclosed area with a rooftop terrace. The City Council approved the plans in October 2022.

As part of their approval on Thursday, the Coastal Commission required an amendment be made to the city’s local coastal program to increase the allowable development limit for properties at 3300 Newport Blvd. and 475 32nd St. from 103,470 square feet to 118,572 square feet in addition to other clerical edits.

“We are pleased that the California Coastal Commission has approved the Lido House hotel project expansion, which will add five additional cottages for a total of 10 cottages after the full build-out,” said assistant city manager Seimone Jurjis. “We look forward to Lido House hotel’s continued success in the hotel market.”