Forum airs revitalization plans for Balboa Theater and Newport Pier restaurant building

A Newport Beach restaurateur and a Costa Mesa-based developer known for hip Orange County commercial venues unveiled their initial plans Wednesday to rejuvenate two nostalgic businesses on Newport’s Balboa Peninsula.

About 50 community members attended a Speak Up Newport forum to hear Lab Holding founder Shaheen Sadeghi’s plans for the historic Balboa Theater and Bluewater Grill co-owner James Ulcickas’ plans to create a new restaurant on the Newport Pier.

Balboa Theater

Sadeghi, who developed venues such as The Lab and The Camp in Costa Mesa and the Packing House in Anaheim, said he and his team place emphasis on preserving the history of buildings they revitalize.

He said they plan to continue that with the Balboa Theater at 707 E. Balboa Blvd.

“As wonderful as our country is, we have a horrible habit of tearing down our history,” Sadeghi said. “We really don’t allow the opportunity for the kids and grandkids and future generations to sort of have a relationship with the things we grew up with.

“You take these old buildings and you can revamp them, repurpose them and reposition them and they just become as energetic as the day they were built.”

The City Council voted in April to enter a nine-month exclusive negotiating agreement to work with Lab Holding on a proposal to rejuvenate the 88-year-old theater building, which has been vacant for years.

The agreement was intended to give the city and Lab Holding time to finalize the plan and negotiate a sale of the city-owned property to Lab. The plan and sale ultimately would go to the council for approval.

Lab Holding is proposing to restore the theater’s original architecture, including the marquee, which likely would reflect the 1920s wrought-iron style. The venue is proposed to have a cafe that would open to the street, a small stage for live music and a second stage for private events. The live-music stage would have an indoor pub but no seating, according to preliminary plans.

Sadeghi said the theater likely will not show films.

Sadeghi’s team plans to work with historians and other locals who can give an idea of what the Balboa Theater was like in its heyday.

The venue first opened in 1928 as the Ritz Theater and originally hosted vaudeville shows before operating briefly as a speakeasy during the tail end of the Prohibition era, according to historical accounts.

In 1939, the venue became known as the Balboa Theater and began showing films. For several years in the early 1970s, it was an adult theater showing X-rated movies under the name Pussycat Theatres. By the late 1970s, it had transformed again, showing revivals of popular films.

The city bought the property in 1988 for $480,000. The theater fell on hard times in the early ‘90s and was shuttered in 1992.

In the years after its closure, some residents held out hope that the theater would again entertain the masses.

The Balboa Performing Arts Theater Foundation launched a fundraising effort in 2010 to renovate the building with plans to transform it into a 320-seat multiuse venue featuring musical acts, dance and theater performances, films and performing-arts education. But fundraising did not prove fruitful.

In 2014, the city proposed turning the theater into a city-run fine-arts center offering exhibitions, movies, live performances and workshops in arts, crafts and music. But it was difficult to find widespread support for a city-run theater, council members have said.

Sadeghi said his goal is to have the Balboa Theater become a place for nearby residents to walk to get a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and spend time hanging out.

“If we can’t satisfy the people in the immediate neighborhood, then we’ve failed,” he said.

Newport Pier restaurant

Though Ulcickas said the building at the end of the Newport Pier is beyond repair, he hopes to create a casual dining space to cater to residents and beachgoers.

The City Council voted in March to enter an agreement with Bluewater Grill owners Ulcickas and Richard Staunton to develop a conceptual design for a new restaurant at the end of the pier.

The establishment would replace the two-story, city-owned restaurant building on the pier, which has been vacant since 2012. The building, constructed in the 1940s, has chipped wood, peeling paint, dry rot and water damage. Inside, the electrical system doesn’t work, and the kitchen is out of commission.

The new restaurant is proposed to be three stories with floor-to-ceiling windows on the first floor, as well as an outdoor bar and seating area on the second and third floors.

The decor is expected to feature wood and steel accents with Cape Cod-style siding, rustic wood tables and umbrellas. The building also is proposed to have a to-go window.

Preliminary plans also show an elevator shaft designed to look like a lifeguard tower, with lights strung along the boardwalk.

The menu will offer fish but also feature options that appeal to a wide variety of customers, Ulcickas said.

“Newport deserves a high-quality beach-casual operation at the end of the Newport Pier that reflects the city’s amazing quality of life,” he said. “We want to bring back what should be an icon for the city.”

The theater and restaurant projects are planned to be completed by 2018.

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Hannah Fry, [email protected]

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN