Twin Palms restaurant in Newport Beach went out with a final bang on New Year’s Eve.
The restaurant, distinguished by its white-tented rooftop, closed its doors Jan. 1 after a five-year noise battle with its neighbor, the Four Seasons hotel, which now plans to use the restaurant location as a banquet facility.
According to Twin Palms CEO Victor A. Ciulla “the partners who own Twin Palms Newport Beach have sold the lease and restaurant equipment to the Irvine Co., our landlord.” He also said that it was “due to continuing serious and insoluble sound issues with Four Seasons and the city of Newport Beach that have plagued us since our opening back in 1994.”
Neither the Irvine Co., which also owns the Four Seasons, nor Twin Palms would release the sale price.
But the sale was amicable, said Twin Palms’ Jim Barth, one of four partners in the restaurant.
“I think we both came up with a fair price,” said Dick Sim, group president, investment properties, for The Irvine Co.
Four Seasons General Manager Mehdi Eftekari said the hotel plans to redesign the restaurant into a single ballroom for weddings and private parties.
Barth said the Newport Center operation was not economically viable because the company was unable to run its signature musical programs. “It’s disappointing to us that we could not make it work, but at some point you have to make a decision,” he said, adding that the restaurant will continue to hold private parties through the end of January.
The company has restaurants in Pasadena and Valencia and is searching for a new location, Barth said.
“We have not ruled out another location in Orange County,” he noted.
Ironically, the closing of the tony restaurant at Fashion Island, whose owners include Kevin Costner’s ex-wife, Cindy Costner, follows just a few months after the opening at the rival South Coast Plaza of the Clubhouse, a restaurant Kevin Costner has a small stake in.
