Corona del Mar Today: Developers to break ground on condo project
The AERIE condominium project on Carnation Avenue could break ground within the next 90 days, owner Richard Julian said.
“We’ve been finishing up all our final working drawings and construction plans,” he said. “In the meantime, it’s given us the chance to make sure the plans are really, really perfect. We don’t want any changes once we start. I want to start and blast through construction.”
The AERIE condominium development received California Coastal Commission approval in June 2011 after nearly three years of hearings and debates at the state and local levels.
In April 2010, the commission rejected the project, but AERIE was reduced in size by one unit with a 17% reduction in square feet and a 61% reduction in bluff excavation.
The project will be 51,124 square feet and involve excavation of 9,810 cubic yards of coastal bluff.
Because of an agreement with city officials and neighbors, excavation would not be done in summer months, Julian said.
Construction will take about 30 months, he said.
Julian and his wife, Karen, first spotted the AERIE property a decade ago when they happened to stop at Carnation and Ocean Boulevard.
They envisioned a luxury condominium complex but later faced years of battles with neighbors who thought the proposed project was too big and would destroy the coastal bluff.
The Julians downsized the project, which now will have seven units.
All are spoken for, Richard Julian said, although one may become available before construction is complete.
The condos will replace a 14-unit, 50-year-old building that has been called an eyesore.
*
Principal to retire
Harbor View Elementary School’s principal has announced her retirement.
“It is with a heavy heart that I send this email to our entire Harbor View Family,” Principal Charlene Metoyer wrote. “As you know, I’ve shared my focus for more than a year with my dad’s declining health. After an anxious summer with him, I made the difficult decision to focus on him full time and retire from education.”
Former Andersen Elementary School Principal Mary Manos will serve as interim principal, according to the email.
*
CdM construction work
Construction at Corona del Mar High School will continue into the fall, a district official has confirmed.
Projects include a reconfiguration of the school’s pool parking lot, along with a new bus turnout, which should be complete in late August, Jim Lamond, director of facilities development, planning and design for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said in an email.
Work on the weight room also is moving forward and should be complete in early September.
“The Middle School Enclave project has been put out to bid and the bids have been received,” he said. “Work on the enclave should begin in late August.”
The new theater project remains under review by the Department of State Architects’ office, he said.
“We’re hoping (fingers crossed!) that DSA approves the plans by mid-October,” his email said.
*
Green building tour
The Environmental Nature Center will host a green building tour at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The event includes a tour of the ENC’s new “green” learning center, which was the first building in Orange County to achieve LEED Platinum status.
The tour also will teach what being green is about and how to make your home and business more environmentally friendly and how to reduce your carbon footprint and incorporate renewable energy.
Space is limited, and a $5 donation is requested. Private tours also may be arranged.
The center is at 1601 E. 16th St. To make a reservation, call (949) 645-8489.
*
Puppy protests
A year ago this week, dozens of animal-rights protesters crowded onto the sidewalks in front of a new East Coast Highway business, vowing to return until alleged puppy mill dogs were no longer sold at the I Heart Puppies shop.
Today, a new clothing boutique occupies the space at 2801 E. Coast Hwy. — its door handle no longer shaped like a dog bone.
I Heart Puppies closed in February, and its owners said they were converting to an online-only business.
But the website is not active, and the owners have not returned several emails, calls and other messages asking about their business and whereabouts.
Protest organizer Carole Davis, West Coast director for the Companion Animal Protection Society, said the shop’s closure was not a victory for animal rights activists.
“This was not a successful outcome,” she said in a recent interview. “This is not a happy outcome. We would prefer to be celebrating a rescue-only store in Corona del Mar. I wish they had stayed in Corona del Mar and opened a dress shop.”
Twitter: @coronadelmartdy