NEWPORT BEACH, CA - Waterfront shops and condos will supplant a plaza of campy storefronts and a World War II shipbuilding yard under plans approved by the California Coastal Commission. The development on nearly 2.5 acres of prime Balboa Peninsula real estate, though sure to be luxurious, is billed as a way to democratize enjoyment of the lucrative land on Newport Harbor.
Key to Coastal Commission approval last week were a firm's promises to add guest boat slips, clear a wide window to the bay for passing pedestrians and motorists, and construct a 435-foot-long waterfront walkway along a property that's now mostly private.
In return, Beverly Hills-based Etco Investments won commission blessing for its Newport Bay Marina development of 27 condos, 246 parking spaces and 36,000 square feet of offices and retail.
Also, Etco will rebuild a 21-slip marina and add a dozen tie-up slips for daytrippers stopping by for, say, a cup of chowder at the Crab Cooker or a cocktail at Woody's Wharf.
"The Coastal Commission's unanimous approval of our mixed-use project is a strong endorsement of the project and the extensive public access and view corridors to the bay," said Afshin Etebar, managing member at Etco.
"That certainly is an improvement," said city Planning Director David Lepo, "to have that view corridor and the physical access to be able to walk back there."
In the 1940s, the site was a hub for South Coast Boat Builders, which won war contracts to build rescue vessels and convert aging tuna clippers into wooden minesweepers, according to "Newport Beach: The First Century," a history of the town.
The historic warehouses, with their corrugated steel siding and jagged saw-tooth rooflines, are used today by South Coast Shipyard, a company that restores vintage watercraft. Also on site is an eclectic mix of shops hawking surfboards, beach cruisers and nautical knick-knacks, among other things.
That charm, however, is showing its age at the shipyard in the form of stray cats, a paint-starved dock and a shattered window or two on vacant retail units.
Councilman Don Webb, an expert on city history, said that while he's fond of the location, he doesn't oppose the Etco development.
"Unless it's a super-historic building like the (Balboa) Pavilion, the property owners have a right to use the property like they would like to," Webb said.
Financing has been secured for the development, company officials say; construction could begin by year's end and then take up to two years.
The viability of the project is still suspect for some observers who note that the peninsula – with a rowdy reputation stemming from one of the county's densest concentrations of bars and a wealth of youth-inhabited rental properties – is something of an exception to Newport's glitzy image.
There is "always going to be a demand for waterfront residential," Lepo said. "The question is what is going to be the demand for the commercial component."
With extensive parking and a million-dollar view, though, company officials say Newport Bay Marina can upend peninsula precedent. "The city has spent a lot of time trying to revitalize the area," said company spokeswoman Carol Mentor McDermott, "and we think this will be a big contribution to that revitalization."
Source: OCregister.com