June Casagrande
A consortium of developers wants to demolish the boutiques, shops and
eateries that make up Lido Marina Village to clear room for a luxury
hotel and time-share condominiums.
A representative of Laguna Beach-based Griffin Realty Corp.
approached City Council members individually to present the plans,
while at a representative of Lido Village firm JC Partners
International has been luring individual property owners in the area
with offers to buy the land, city officials confirmed Thursday.
Griffin has also discussed the plans with city Planning Department
staff members, though no plans or paperwork have been filed.
"They approached me about two weeks ago to lay out their program
as to what they want to do," said Councilman Steve Bromberg, who
described the project as an Italian-style villa shrouded by greenery.
"What they're talking about doing is very upscale and very
nice-looking."
A representatives of the two companies confirmed the plans but
said that they were very preliminary.
"Our intent is to work closely with the city and the community as
we go forward to address both city and community issues to achieve a
quality revitalization for this key area," said Carol Hoffman,
principal of Government Solutions Inc., which is representing the
developers.
Bromberg and others who have been briefed on the plans have said
the project would include about 75 hotel rooms and two dozen
cottage-type condominiums, perhaps to be sold as timeshares. Boat
slips on the site would be redesigned to make them more user-friendly
and to get the marina into compliance with city fire codes.
To build the project, the developers would have to acquire and
bulldoze the businesses on Via Oporto and Via Lido.
That would be a feat.
"I have no intention of selling," said Douglas Dreyer, owner of
the building at 3416 Via Lido, who said he had been approached by the
would-be buyer. "This is part of our retirement plan. We've got nine
good tenants. We've just spent $40,000 renovating the building. We
don't want to sell."
Dreyer said he supported a revitalization of the village but not a
razing of it.
JC Partners tendered an unsolicited offer at an undisclosed price
that was "ridiculous," Dryer said. In recent weeks, he said, he'd
received a more realistic offer, but he was standing firm in his
opposition to selling. But he said he was worried that, if a rumor is
true, he might have no choice.
"A rumor is out there that the developer would ask the city to use
