Dunes owners put resort up for sale

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- After almost 30 years in the city, the owners of the

Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort are looking for someone else to take over

the bayfront business that has become a local institution.

Tim Quinn, whose father-in-law, William Evans, entered a lease for the

state-owned land with Orange County in 1972, said on Friday his family

was looking for a buyer for the resort.

“We’re accepting bids,” he said, adding that no asking price had been

set.

The main reason to leave was a desire to focus on the San Diego area,

where Evans Hotels already operates two resorts and plans to open a third

in February, Quinn said.

“We’ve got a lot on our plate in San Diego,” he said.

But Greenlight, the city’s new slow-growth law, also played a role in

the decision. Approved by voters in November, Greenlight requires

citywide elections for certain general plan amendments.

The family’s plans for a 581,000-square-foot, 470-room hotel and

conference center at the Dunes would have required an election and in

many ways became the lightning rod for anti-growth advocates.

“The recent Newport Beach election results clearly indicated the

community’s support for a different hotel on the Newport Dunes property

than the one we proposed,” Quinn wrote to City Council members July 25.

“We feel the resort and the community would be best served by an owner

who specializes in developing that type of facility.”

Dunes expansion opponents said they were surprised Quinn’s family had

decided to give up the profitable RV park.

But Susan Caustin, a Greenlight supporter and leader of the group Stop

the Dunes, said she was delighted the resort owners would not go forward

with the expansion.

“I hope that whoever buys it will not go forward with it, either,”

Caustin said. “Because we will oppose it.”

While Dunes developers could avoid a Greenlight vote by reducing the

resort’s proposed expansion to stay under 555,000 square feet, Caustin

said residents would fight it nevertheless.

“There’s just simply no way that a project is going to get through

without a vote of the people,” Caustin said, adding that she’d organize a

referendum if Greenlight isn’t triggered.

She said the resort owners could only build a 275-room hotel with

minimum conference space that’s already approved.

Caustin also suggested that city officials should think about taking

over the remaining 39 years on the lease and dedicate it to residents.

“What a wonderful place for a park,” she said, adding that she’d heard

several others suggest the idea. “I definitely think the city should look

into that.”

At City Hall, Newport Beach leaders seemed less emotional about

Quinn’s announcement.

“It sounds like this is a business decision,” said Councilman Steve

Bromberg, who represents the district that includes the resort. “Whether

it’s right or wrong, that’s not the issue for us to decide.”

Bromberg added that he didn’t believe Greenlight was a motivating

factor for Quinn and his family.

“All they needed to do was reduce the square footage by a small amount

to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish,” Bromberg said.

Councilman Gary Proctor said he didn’t think the Dunes expansion would

have survived.

“By far, it would be the most difficult [decision] for the voters,” he

said, adding that he rejected a 250,000-square-foot expansion project in

Koll Center despite seeing it as “the most viable one in light of

Greenlight.”

Voters will decide on that project in a Nov. 20 special election.

Quinn said his family was in no hurry to sell the resort.

“We won’t sell it if we’re not comfortable with it,” he said. “We

could be here five years from now.”

Quinn will continue to run the University Athletic Club, which he

bought two years ago.

Councilman Tod Ridgeway said he wasn’t convinced Quinn and his family

will actually leave.

“They will make a business decision, and they may find that that

business decision is to stay,” Ridgeway said. “As they say, ‘It ain’t

over till the fat lady sings.”’

* Mathis Winkler covers Newport Beach. He can be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at mathis.winkler@latimes.com.