Surf City Adding to Its Uptown Look

Another wave of redevelopment is about to hit Surf City: Plans call for a 31-acre village in downtown Huntington Beach with condominiums, apartments, a retail promenade and a resort.

The project, unveiled Friday, is called Pacific City, the original name given to the beachfront village by Seal Beach founder Philip Stanton in 1901.

The development would be the latest installment in the revitalization of the downtown area, following the recent opening of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa.

The development on vacant land would include a 17-acre residential village of 516 townhomes and apartments; a low-rise retail promenade on Pacific Coast Highway with 193,000 square feet of space for shops, boutiques, restaurants and office space; and a 400-room resort across from the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort.

The project, which probably would cost in excess of $200 million, still needs Planning Commission and City Council approval.

The developers, however, have been working with city officials since 2000 to put together a plan that conforms to the city’s vision of a residential community, said Ethen Thacher, project manager for Newport Beach-based Makar Properties.

The public should be able to review the project’s environmental impact report beginning in July, Thacher said. He said city approval is expected by late this year, with construction beginning next year.

The developer has “gone back to the drawing board” a few times, City Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “Originally, they wanted to exceed the [city’s 1995 downtown] specific plan. I think they’ve gotten the message that we want them to stay within the specific plan.”

The project area is bounded by 1st Street, Atlanta Avenue, Huntington Street and Pacific Coast Highway. The design calls for pedestrian walkways that align with neighborhood streets to provide public access for residents. A new street, Pacific View Drive, would run through the village and parallel PCH.

The project is the latest in the city’s push to market downtown as an upscale vacation and day-tourist destination.

Over the years, Huntington Beach has replaced the area’s seedy surf-town bars and older buildings with Spanish-style buildings and hotel-retail space.

A pedestrian-friendly village with public access is important to the city, Cook said.

“I don’t want to see some walled-off community separate from everything else,” she said. “I’d like to see it as a part of the community.”