Dates set for work on Newport Beach piers

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Two restaurants are preparing to close their doors

for about two months while workers shut down the city’s two piers for the

biggest renovations in their 60-year history.

First signs of the $2.7-million rehabilitation project will begin at

Newport Pier on Nov. 15, though that pier will remain open until Jan. 26.

After that, major work, including resurfacing, will require the pier to

be completely closed until March 22.

“We’re going to miss our biggest day of the year -- Valentine’s Day,”

said Rex Kim, manager of Newport Pier Seafood & Bar, at the end of the

pier. The roughly 30 workers at the restaurant will be laid off, he said.

Though he hopes they will all return when the restaurant reopens, he

acknowledged that many will have to find other jobs in the interim and

might not return.

Work on Balboa Pier will begin Dec. 3, with the pier closed from Jan.

2 through Feb. 22. Ruby’s Diner at the end of the pier also must close.

The city expects that all the work will be done by mid-April. When

they reopen, the piers will have a new look and about 20 years added to

their life spans.

New concrete surfaces will give the biggest boost to pier aesthetics,

said Lloyd Dalton, engineer for the city’s Public Works Department. New

signs, gates and handrails will be installed. Electricity, gas, water and

phone lines now visibly running down the piers will be concealed.

Structural work, including the concrete resurfacing, will make the piers

stronger, increase the amount of weight they can carry and make them

better able to endure a big storm.

“It will look very similar to what it does now, but it will be

stronger and more beautiful,” Dalton said last month.

The city awarded the contract to John S. Meek Co. in September.

Recently, the company announced its construction schedule for the

project, which should complete all work on and around the pier by

mid-April. The city will pay for the work primarily with funds from the

American Trader oil spill settlement.

“I hope that when it’s done, it will be more beautiful and bring more

people walking here,” Kim said.