Crystal Cove Conservancy announces final funding acquired for North Beach Restoration Project

The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced this week it has acquired the remaining $10 million needed to fund the last of the North Beach Restoration Project — a more than 20-year effort that has allowed for the preservation of what conservancy officials call the final vestiges of the “California beach lifestyle” of the 1950s.

In its news release on the funding issued Tuesday, the nonprofit said the final investment came from the Bank of America after the conservancy secured federal historic rehabilitation tax credits intended to incentivize the rehabilitation and reuse of historic properties.

The investment completes fundraising for the project. Other significant funding comes from the capital campaign led by Crystal Cove Conservancy founder and campaign chair Laura Davick and from an additional $30 million in state funding with the assistance of state Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris.

The conservancy also credits community philanthropists, Crystal Cove Conservancy members, the California Coastal Commission, the California State Coastal Conservancy, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the WWW Foundation and other individual and foundation supporters for seeing the project through.

Cottage No. 3.5, also known as the Teacher’s Retreat, includes one bedroom with a full-size bed and a pull-out couch in the living room. It is one of the eight cottages to be available for rent in the third phase of the North Beach Restoration Project.

(Courtesy of the Crystal Cove Conservancy)

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for not just the conservancy, but Crystal Cove State Park, the state of California, our founder, Laura Davick, who spearheaded the fundraising campaign, and the entire Cove Community. None of this would be possible without the individual supporters, the families and foundations, our neighbors and our friends,” said Kate Wheeler, president and chief executive officer for the conservancy, in the news release.

“The addition of the newly restored cottages means we will have eight more rental units ready to welcome visitors to Crystal Cove, providing additional support for the conservancy’s extensive STEM education and conservation programs,” she added.

Efforts to restore the cottages started back in the early 2000s with Davick, according to chief operating officer Austin Barrow.

Cottage No. 12, pictured in 2017, is a two-story residence with four bedrooms located on the north beach area of Crystal Cove State Beach in Newport Coast. It was restored and will be available for rent.

(File Photo)

“The cottages had fallen into a horrible state of disrepair. They sat nearly dormant for over 20 years, and they were really an homage to the California beach lifestyle of the 1950s. The state, through the state [Department of Parks and Recreation], and several former residents, said that they should be preserved for future generations to enjoy and learn about the past uses, events and history of what was going on on these beaches during that time,” said Barrow in an interview Thursday.

The Crystal Cove Conservancy began as the Crystal Cove Alliance organized by Davick in 1999 in an effort to save the 46 total cottages from developers who wanted to demolish the properties to make way for a larger resort. By 2017, 29 of the cottages were restored and available for beach visitors to rent.

All that remained was the final 17 cottages, eight of which, the Conservancy now says, will be ready for rental by Thanksgiving.

The initial cost had been around $5 million to get the project started, Barrow laughed, adding, “The cost to do [the restorations] got a little higher than most people anticipated, and the time took a little longer, but here we are at the end of fundraising, and I saw Laura just the other day. She was beaming with excitement at this mission that she took up over 20 years ago is ending in a successful manner.”

Cottage No. 12 will be available for rent with seven other cottages as part of the third and final phase of the North Beach Restoration Project. The cottage is called the North Beach Tower.

(Courtesy of the Crystal Cove Conservancy)

More details on the rentals will be made public in the coming weeks. Staff at the Crystal Cove Conservancy are encouraging those interested to keep their eyes on the nonprofit’s website at crystalcove.org, social media and to sign up for its newsletter.

The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

“[North Beach] is the last remaining location on the coastline of the state of California where the California beach lifestyle has been preserved. It’s not just about the cottages specifically,” said Barrow. “It’s an entire district. The day-to-day activities of that particular time period can now be recreated in an environment that resembles it. The Crystal Cove Conservancy provides interpretive classes, interpretive science sessions for everything from coastal erosion all the way up through the vernacular architecture that these cottages were built with.

“They’re a lab and a classroom on top of being an amazing place to come and stay to get away from the day-to-day grind of city life we have in Southern California.”