Cost of Marina Park could jump to $30M

The price for a waterfront park on Balboa Peninsula could be as high as $30 million, Newport Beach city officials said Tuesday.

Original plans for the park included a playground and some boat slips, estimated to cost about $12 million, but plans for the roughly 9-acre site grew to include a 11,115-foot sailing center with a lighthouse-themed design and a 10,200 square-foot community center.

Earlier estimates have put the project’s cost about $20 million, said Dave Webb, Newport Beach deputy public works director.

The city has owned the land since 1919 and it has been the spot of a mobile home park since 1955.

Residents protested plans for a resort there, and now the land is slated to become a public park.

Now the preliminary plans for Marina Park include all sorts of additions, such as remodeling public restrooms on 19th Street, Webb said.

A recent internal city estimate pinpointed the project’s cost at about $30 million.

“At this point, it’s higher because it includes numerous elements and contingencies,” Webb said. “It’s only higher based on if that’s the level of park the City Council wants to build.”

The $30-million cost for the park, which also would include basketball and tennis courts, is not an official estimate, Webb said, and the park’s plans are still preliminary.

“The number is so tentative,” Webb said. “The City Council has to decide if that’s where they want to be on the project and budget accordingly.”

The city hopes to have a final design concept for Marina Park by the fall, Newport Beach Mayor Ed Selich said.

“Any estimate on cost is really premature,” Selich said.

Selich estimated construction would begin on the project in 2010.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.