Costa Mesa’s Center Club Outlines Expansion
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
The Center Club, the private business and social club near the Orange County Performing Arts Center, is looking to expand.
Manager John Perrine said he is hoping to enlist more members whose dues would help bankroll the upgrades. Plans call for the 20,000-square-foot club to take on an extra 9,500 square feet and carve out meeting rooms for business and social events.
But there are some ifs.
Perrine said he first has to take the idea to his members and the club’s governing board to get approval.
Once members and officials sign off, Perrine said the Costa Mesa club plans to form a steering committee to finalize ideas for the expansion. Then it’ll kick off a membership drive, he said.
“We want to work through the membership to get their support,” he said.
Members have expressed a need to expand and upgrade, Perrine said. They want the club to offer smaller business meeting rooms with high-speed Internet access, videoconferencing and other bells and whistles, he said.
The club’s 1,150 members must invite people to join, Perrine said. Prospective members will go through an invitation process, he said.
The expansion is set to go forward only if the club meets its mark, Perrine said. He declined to disclose the number of members he is hoping to recruit. The cost of the project depends on final approvals, he said.
Initial plans call for six private meeting rooms and a larger “war room,” which would be able to house up to 50 people.
Perrine said the changes would benefit members.
They would be able to hold business meetings there and link with employees gathering at other clubs nationally via videoconferencing, he said.
The club is hoping the new features and added space will help it attract new groups that want to hold meetings or entertain. Those include technology companies, nonprofits and executive women, Perrine said.
