Newport Beach forfeits tennis site for city hall

Newport Beach city officials are no longer pursuing a tennis club property on East Coast Highway as a city hall site because of resistance from the property’s owners and an unwillingness to use eminent domain.

The City Council last fall had requested an appraisal of the property that’s home to the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club. The final results aren’t in, but after a closed-session discussion Tuesday, Mayor Steve Rosansky announced the council’s interest in the property has fizzled.

“The majority of the owners led us to believe that that property was for sale. We acted under that assumption,” Rosansky said. “We never said we were going to take that property by eminent domain.”That was good news to property owner Robert O Hill, the managing partner for the investors who own the property.

“We’re very pleased with the council’s decision,” said Byron De Arakal, a consultant working for O Hill on plans to upgrade the tennis club and neighboring Newport Beach Country Club.

O Hill said early on he did not want to sell the tennis club property, and council members didn’t rule out using eminent domain, but the opposition from other owners and club members may have been more than they bargained for.

The council’s decision means O Hill can move forward with plans for new tennis and golf clubhouses, as well as 27 bungalows for members of the clubs and their guests, among other amenities.

But it also means the council is back at square one in terms of finding a city hall site. Council members will likely take another look at the existing Balboa Peninsula land and the police station property in Newport Center, but it’s not certain what other places the council will consider.

The mayor wants the council to decide on a city hall location by June 30.