Luxury resort to have huge impact on city

The Irvine Co.'s planned luxury resort in Newport Beach will stimulate the city's economy and make it an attractive destination for wealthy travelers, city and business leaders said.

On Tuesday, the Irvine Co. announced that it had appointed Ralph Grippo, an international veteran of hotel management, to oversee The Resort at Pelican Hill, which is under construction in Newport Coast and slated to open in fall 2008.

The resort, the most lavish of its kind in Newport-Mesa, would feature a 204-room hotel, 128 villas, restaurants, a golf club and a spa.

To many in Newport Beach, that amounts to a business boom.

"We're all looking forward to them completing their project and bringing it on line," said Mayor Steve Rosansky. "It's a high-end resort, and it brings up the level of Newport Beach in the eyes of the traveling public."

Gary Sherwin, the president and chief executive officer of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, said the Irvine Co. resort would make the city an attractive destination for companies looking to hold board meetings or management retreats. He predicted that the resort would attract a clientele that was wealthy even by Newport Beach standards — and that, in turn, local restaurants and retailers would flourish during peak tourist times.

"The impact of this project on the city of Newport Beach can't be underestimated," Sherwin said. "This is really going to be perhaps one of the most significant additions to the city's hospitality product in its history."

City revenue manager Glen Everroad said the property would bring in a surge of money through the transient occupancy tax that guests paid for rooms. Room rentals, he said, were Newport Beach's third-highest source of tax revenue — bringing in around $12 million a year — and he expected the amount to rise when The Resort at Pelican Hill opened its doors.

"We're anxious to have that facility open," Everroad said. "It's going to be quite a star here in the resort destination arena."