New hub on horizon

Jenny Marder

A new locale for the International Surf Museum, the revival of a

famous night club and an upscale specialty market are just some of

the ideas that developers are kicking around for the latest project

to revitalize Downtown Huntington Beach.

Groundbreaking for Pacific City, a massive development to be built

on the 31-acre site bordered by Pacific Coast Highway, Atlanta

Avenue, Huntington and 1st streets, is scheduled for 2004.

Wanting a local feel, developers have given the project a name

steeped in Surf City history.

While trying to come up with the name, developers learned that

before Henry E. Huntington’s Pacific Electric Company made Huntington

Beach a stop on its railway line, giving the city its name, this

coastal haven was known as Pacific City.

A century later, Surf City’s old moniker has been reclaimed.

“We feel it will be another jewel in Huntington Beach’s crown,”

said Michael Gagnet, vice president for developer Makar Properties.

Plans for Pacific City include 516 residential townhouses,

shopping, restaurants, office space and a luxury resort.

Makar Properties purchased the 31-acre site in 1998. The company’s

main objectives are to bring money into the city, to create a

development that is environmentally and architecturally

state-of-the-art and to remain true to Surf City’s goal that it be

internationally recognized as an overnight tourist destination,

Gagnet said.

Plans calls for separating the 31 acres into two districts with

10.6 acres of retail, office space and a hotel along Pacific Coast

Highway and 17.2 residential acres behind.

The residential district would have condominiums and stacked

apartments, from one to four stories and from 850 to 2,425-square

feet in area.

Plans for Pacific City show the area spotted with swimming pools,

parks and tree-lined pedestrian walkways that lead to the retail

promenade and to Downtown Huntington Beach.

The shopping area would have as much as 180,000 square feet of

retail space and 60,000 square feet of office space. It would offer

six specialty food outlets, restaurants, shops, a day spa and yoga

center, a live entertainment venue, and services such as a dry

cleaner, video store and coffee house.

Access to subterranean parking by valet service would be provided.

“The biggest key to a successful retail project is energy,” Gagnet

said. “We want people to have a new experience every time they come

in.”

Developers say community involvement is a key component to the

project. They have been holding public forums, walking door-to-door

and meeting frequently with city staff to encourage community

involvement, Project Manager Ethan Thacher said.

Developers have already held meetings with Huntington Beach

Tomorrow, the Pacific Mobile Home Park, Huntington Beach Conference

and Visitors Bureau and the Huntington Beach Restaurant Assn.

“They have had quite a few meetings with local merchants,” said

Ron McLin, owner of the Longboard Restaurant and Pub Downtown and

president of the Huntington Beach Restaurant Assn. “They have been

very active in trying to get out to the public and listening to

people.”

At the suggestion of Downtown residents, developers are looking

into bringing back the old nightclub the Golden Bear, which was the

pulse of the area’s entertainment scene for decades.

The Golden Bear, as many Surf City veterans remember, booked

musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, John

Lee Hooker and Jethro Tull. The club shut down in 1986.

Residents have also asked that Makar Properties include a

specialty market in Pacific City, an amenity that the Downtown area

lacks.

“Another comment we’ve heard often is that people would love to

have a retail shop where they can buy pleated pants,” Gagnet said.

“We’re trying to create an environment where you can get anything in

Downtown Huntington Beach.”

The International Surf Museum is entertaining the idea of moving

from its small home on Main Street to Pacific City.

“We’re in a little dinky space right now,” said Natalie Kotsch,

the museum’s founder. “We could support curators, programming and

archiving. It would be a bigger space.”

Downtown, where development has often inspired opposition, some

have already begun to voice concerns.

“One thing that is a major concern is density of the project,”

said Downtown Huntington Beach resident James Lane, also a member of

the Citizens Against Redevelopment Excess group that loudly opposed

the Strand project Downtown. “This area is incredibly overdeveloped,

and adding thousands more people into a very small area could add to

traffic, air pollution and the quality of life that we enjoy here in

Huntington Beach.”

Developers say, though, that of the residents contacted, “90%

absolutely love the project, and 100% are happy that we’re making the

effort” to contact them, Gagnet said.

“We haven’t really heard of too many concerns,” he said. “The

community at large is happy we are sharing information.”

City officials are eager for the income the project will generate,

City Councilwoman Pam Julien Houchen said.

“I think it’s important to make sure [developers] are doing a good

job,” Houchen said. “It’s important that it’s planned properly.

Parking, aesthetics, its effect on the neighborhood -- all of these

things will have to be considered to make it a good project for the

community.”

In July, a Pacific City information center will open Downtown at

2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway. It will include a display of

the project, site plans and renderings, a 3-D virtual animated tour

of the project.

The project still needs approval from the Planning Commission and

the City Council. Thacher estimates that plans will reach the

Planning Commission by late fall or early winter.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.