New proprietor at Arches locale by this summer

Hollywood director and producer Joseph McGinty Nichol, better known as McG, made an international star out of the Arches location while he was executive producer of Fox’s recently canceled show “The OC.”

But now his stake in the location has grown.

The filmmaker and Newport Beach native has signed a 10-year lease to take over the Arches restaurant on West Coast Highway, Arches owner Dan Marcheano said.

The lease will be effective starting in August, and although McG will be taking the location on the corner of Old Newport Boulevard and West Coast Highway, he will not take the famed name. Marcheano said he has for years planned to expand the restaurant’s menu and move it — and that’s coming to fruition.

“We have got a couple very nice locations we’re involved in right now…. We own the Arches and the corporation, and they’ll be moving with us,” Marcheano said. “What I don’t know is what he is going to call the place, other than I know he is not going to be calling it the Arches.”

McG started out in Hollywood making music videos. He’s also directed the “Charlie’s Angels” movies and the recent hit “We Are Marshall.”