Newport readies for new city hall

Newport Beach will break ground Tuesday on a new civic center next to the Newport Beach Central Library.

The project includes building a 99,800 square-foot city hall building, a 14.3-acre park and a 17,000 square-foot addition to the central library.

City officials will host a brief groundbreaking ceremony near Avocado and Farallon avenues at 11 a.m. before work begins on the site.

The 16-acre park and city hall site at 1000 Avocado Ave. will be fenced and screened within a week after work begins.

Workers will remove more than 280,000 cubic yards of dirt from the site over the next few months before construction begins. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2012.

— Brianna Bailey