Speedway on the road out

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- The California Coastal Commission has approved plans

for a retail and office project at the closed Speedway Bistro & Cafe.

Newport Beach developer Russell Fluter plans to demolish the

racing-themed eatery and construct a 15,000-square-foot building with an

arcade of small retail shops.

The 12-member Coastal Commission approved the project at its meeting

last week in Los Angeles.

Fluter was required by state law to get approval from the commission

because the project at 353 E. Coast Highway is on the cusp of the Newport

Beach shoreline.

Because he does not plan to change the property’s zoning, Fluter was

not required to get approval from the Newport Beach City Council.

Yet some in City Hall have sounded less than enthusiastic about the

project.

“I would have loved to see Newport Auto Center expand,” said Assistant

City Manager Sharon Wood. “I don’t know how much market there is going to

be for more small retail.”

The property is at the crossroads of East Coast Highway and Bayside

Drive, near a string of other small shops in Mariners Village. Fluter

said auto sales wouldn’t work at the property.

“It’s true that an auto dealership would generate more tax revenue to

the city,” he said. “But the site is too small for a dealership. The

retail-office [project] that I’m proposing works better on the site.”

City officials, however, did laud Fluter for putting the site back to

use. Speedway, as it turned out, was a disastrous business venture.

The cafe’s brief and troubled existence was near its end Aug. 27,

1999, when one of the owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The city

had approved the cafe two years earlier.

Owner Richard Marconi filed suit to recover $1 million from his

co-owners. Speedway closed its doors shortly after the filing.