Plan would replace Lido Marina Village

June Casagrande

A consortium of developers wants to demolish the boutiques, shops and

eateries that make up Lido Marina Village to clear room for a luxury

hotel and time-share condominiums.

A representative of Laguna Beach-based Griffin Realty Corp.

approached City Council members individually to present the plans,

while at a representative of Lido Village firm JC Partners

International has been luring individual property owners in the area

with offers to buy the land, city officials confirmed Thursday.

Griffin has also discussed the plans with city Planning Department

staff members, though no plans or paperwork have been filed.

“They approached me about two weeks ago to lay out their program

as to what they want to do,” said Councilman Steve Bromberg, who

described the project as an Italian-style villa shrouded by greenery.

“What they’re talking about doing is very upscale and very

nice-looking.”

A representatives of the two companies confirmed the plans but

said that they were very preliminary.

“Our intent is to work closely with the city and the community as

we go forward to address both city and community issues to achieve a

quality revitalization for this key area,” said Carol Hoffman,

principal of Government Solutions Inc., which is representing the

developers.

Bromberg and others who have been briefed on the plans have said

the project would include about 75 hotel rooms and two dozen

cottage-type condominiums, perhaps to be sold as timeshares. Boat

slips on the site would be redesigned to make them more user-friendly

and to get the marina into compliance with city fire codes.

To build the project, the developers would have to acquire and

bulldoze the businesses on Via Oporto and Via Lido.

That would be a feat.

“I have no intention of selling,” said Douglas Dreyer, owner of

the building at 3416 Via Lido, who said he had been approached by the

would-be buyer. “This is part of our retirement plan. We’ve got nine

good tenants. We’ve just spent $40,000 renovating the building. We

don’t want to sell.”

Dreyer said he supported a revitalization of the village but not a

razing of it.

JC Partners tendered an unsolicited offer at an undisclosed price

that was “ridiculous,” Dryer said. In recent weeks, he said, he’d

received a more realistic offer, but he was standing firm in his

opposition to selling. But he said he was worried that, if a rumor is

true, he might have no choice.

“A rumor is out there that the developer would ask the city to use

eminent domain,” Bromberg said. “That certainly doesn’t seem like a

possibility to me. That’s not how eminent domain works.”

Hoffman said the companies wanted to acquire the properties in the

traditional way, through negotiations with owners. But she would not

completely rule out the possibility of seeking city support for

eminent domain.

Because the city’s general plan already allows some development in

Lido Marina Village, it’s unclear whether the project would trigger a

Greenlight vote. Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood said that the

city couldn’t weigh in on the Greenlight question until the developer

had submitted plans to the city.

Greenlight spokesman Phil Arst opposed the project.

“The proposed project will destroy the village character in Lido

Marina and replace it with condos like Cannery Lofts,” Arst said. “We

deplore taking our bayfront for still another hotel project.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.