What’s being billed as an Italian village by the sea is coming to Mariner’s Mile in Newport Beach.
The stretch starting at Dover Street and ending at McDonald’s is set to become Bel Mar & #233; (beautiful sea in Italian).
The project is a “very upscale boutique development,” said Doug Beiswenger, managing partner of Allied Retail Partners LLC of Irvine.
The $80 million project is a venture of Allied and Red Mountain Retail Group in Santa Ana. It is their first Newport Beach project.
The two-story Bel Mar & #233; also could have restaurants. Parking will be underground. The shopping center is 50% leased.
“We have far more demand than lease space,” Beiswenger said. “These retailers have little interest in being located in a (big) shopping center.”
The developers went shopping for tenants nationwide, according to Beiswenger.
“This is going to be a fair amount of fashion forward retailers,” he said.
Tenants include Los Angeles-based AG by Adriano Goldschmied, Lisa Kline, New York-based Nancy Koltes At Home, and Arizona’s Maria Martin.
The developers said they met with residents before the project ever got started. Many said they shopped in Los Angeles and wanted to shop locally. Many will be able to walk down from their bluff homes, Beiswenger said.
Allied and Red Mountain worked with the residents a year out, meeting with homeowner’s associations in the area and talking to residents one on one, Beiswenger said.
“We created some great relationships,” he said.
The project sounds a bit like Crystal Cove Promenade in Newport Beach. Bel Mar & #233; won’t have the mainstream tenants that Crystal Cove has, Beiswenger said.
Bel Mar & #233; is expected to break ground later this year and open in 2008.
KTGY Group Inc. in Irvine is the architect.
“The intent of the design is to make it look as though it was built over time,” Beiswenger said.
KTGY, Allied and Red Mountain have done other projects together, including about 80 shopping centers in Arizona and California.
The developers are buying land in Southern California for a housing project, Beiswenger said, using money generated from retail development.
South Coast Card
South Coast Plaza’s gift card for the holiday season is out. The card is good at all things South Coast: The shopping center, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Repertory, The Westin South Coast Plaza and The Spa at South Coast Plaza.
Car Guys
William Lyon’s Mercedes-Benz was the “poster” car for this year’s Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance.
“He has the finest collections of antique autos in Orange County,” said Kent Wilken, who helped produce the show.
The poster car is used to market the show. Mercedes-Benz Classic Car dealership in Irvine is a sponsor of the show.
The annual event was held a week ago at the Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine. The first Newport Beach Concours was in 1983.
Local businessman Jack Croul brought his 1930 Speedster, built with an airplane engine, to the gala before the show. It is 22 feet long and made with Rolls Royce parts, Wilken said.
“It makes more noise than an airplane,” he said.
Croul used to own Behr Process Corp. in Santa Ana, maker of Behr brand varnishes and paints, which was bought by Masco Corp. in 1999.
Croul, a Corona del Mar resident, owns Cannery, Seafood of the Pacific. Croul also has given to the University of California, Irvine’s Department of Earth System Science, where a building is named after him.
“He does a lot of things for the community,” Wilken said.
Old cars are as much investments as passions, Wilken said. Buy one for $200,000, and, a few years later,if it’s the right car,it can be worth $600,000.
Wilken has his own shop near the airport, 250 feet away from the noisy runway. He said he gets a good deal on the lease because it’s so close. Wilken is semi-retired and works on his own cars there. He has a 1931 Ford, among others. Wilken owns Irvine-based Kentec Medical Inc., which sells medical specialty equipment.
This year’s Concours also featured an eclectic car display.
“What happens is we get really neat cars to show but we don’t have a class for them,” Wilken said.
He rounded up cars for the eclectic class.
Local dealers also were on hand displaying new models. Those included Newport European, Crevier BMW of Santa Ana and Ferrari and Maserati of Newport Beach.
Fletcher Shuttle Opens
The time has arrived.
Fletcher Jones Motorcars’ new luxury airport shuttle hub opens this month. Every day, 120 of Fletcher’s clients hitch a ride to the airport. The service saves customers a heap. It can cost up to $200 a week to park at the airport.
The new facility at the corner of Bristol and Birch Streets will ease congestion at the Newport Beach dealership. Bauer & Wile, a Newport Beach architect, designed the 700-square foot hub. It will include a coffee bar, wireless Internet access, luggage areas and 60 parking spaces.
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