Balboa Wraps Phase 1 Face-Lift
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
As part of a bid to breathe new life into old town Balboa,known for its pavilion, Ferris wheel and carousel,the city of Newport Beach has finished about a third of a $7.5 million makeover plan.
The first-phase renovation of Balboa Vill-age, including widened sidewalks, landscaping, street utility and a parking lot redesign, has just wrapped up at about $3.5 million.
The city also finished restoring the Balboa pier as part of a separate project, which cost about $2 million and included new bathrooms.
“We had a realization that the area is important to both residents and visitors,” said Dan Trimple, associate city planner. “It’s an older historic part of town. We wanted to make sure we put our best foot forward.”
City officials and community members held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the pier a few weeks ago. The pier is home to the first Ruby’s Diner, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this month. Known for its 1940s-style memorabilia, the pier diner saw $100,000 in upgrades as well, which Ruby’s paid for.
This is all part of the city’s push to tidy up the faded area, a hodgepodge of retail stores, restaurants, a boardwalk, pier, kids fun zone and water-related rental shops.
Balboa has grown outdated since its heyday in the 1950s, according to Gay Wassall-Kelly, president of the Balboa Merchant and Owner’s Association and publisher of the Balboa Beacon community newspaper.
“We much needed the renovation for many years,” she said.
For the past decade or more, the city held community focus groups, trying to decide which route to take.
Wassall-Kelly said the city did minimal work on the area in the 1930s, 1940s and 1960s, when it covered railroad tracks running through town.
“Ever since then we’ve had a washboard effect on our streets,” she said.
The city’s three-phase plan,paid for with funds from the city’s general fund and other sources,is extensive.
Phase two, which is expected to take one year and starts in the fall, includes more street im-provements on Oceanfront, Main Street, Washington Street (south of Balboa Boulevard) and Palm Street (south of Oceanfront).
Phase three is also expected to take a year and wrap in 2004. It includes a renovation of outdated Peninsula Park, a 200-by-200-foot grassy area that serves as the village square next to the pier. The city’s plans include a circular walk, landscaped planters, benches and informal seating.
There’s also a proposal to build a landmark tower on the corner of Palm and Balboa Boulevard and improve side streets north of Balboa Boulevard.
In the meantime, a new undisclosed restaurant is set for Balboa Pavilion, according to Wassall-Kelly. She said that Balboa Theater, which has sat vacant for years, is undergoing a renovation and is expected to re-open in 2004 as a performing arts center for stage and screen.
“The overall goal, along with getting the theater up and running, is to get that kind of market area that both the visitors and residents would enjoy coming to, whether it’s daytime or evening,” Trimble said.
The village also is hoping to draw some new retail tenants and take some cues from Balboa Island, which the merchant association describes as a “nearby model for a retail mix appropriate to Balboa’s shopping streets.”
Wassall-Kelly said the beachfront village is seasonal and depends on locals and residents to support it, though no everyone has been satisfied.
She said there’s been some turn-over, but the stores haven’t stayed vacant.
“If you look at Main Street, it’s pretty full,” she said. “We have one vacancy. Those people had retired. On Balboa Boulevard we may have lost a few (because of) the construction, but they may have been planning to move anyway.”
Bob Stein, the city’s senior civil engineer, said there’s already been an increase in interest from small business owners who are asking about the improvements and property in area.
“People are saying we need some good restaurants to be the underpinning of the redevelopment and perhaps a Starbucks,” Stein said.
