The developers chosen four years ago to revitalize the Dana Point Harbor say construction will begin soon on the marina and a new parking structure.

Starting in April, the first area to see a change will be the C-Docks in the marina, an area south of the Island Way Bridge not far from the restaurants and shops at the Mariners Village, officials with Dana Point Harbor Partners said. A groundbreaking for a three-story parking structure replacing an existing lot near the harbor’s entrance is planned for June and buildings in Mariners Village are expected to come down in the next year.

“We’re excited,” said Joe Ueberroth, founder of Bellwether Financial Group, one of the three partners in the harbor project. It is heading up the marina project. “We’re just months away from people visualizing it.”

The plans, however, hinge on whether the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, March 8, approves the partners’ new financing plan in which they intend to split the commercial core and waterside projects from two proposed hotels.

If approved, the partners, including R.D. Olson, which is building the hotels, would look for financing after they get their plans approved by the California Coastal Commission.

The commission has made some requests for the developers’ hotel plans – a low-cost surf lodge and a boutique-style hotel – slowing their progress. Among suggestions is adding 33 more rooms to the surf lodge to encourage more equitable access and including public restrooms near the properties.

The Coastal Commission, as well as Dana Point city leaders, also need to sign off on plans for daily boat storage and boat rack storage in the Embarcadero section of the harbor, Ueberroth said.

Dana Point Harbor Partners were approved for a 66-year lease for the harbor by the Board of Supervisors in 2018 based on the three projects being financed together.

“The partners don’t want to delay the project,” said Fifth District Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, a former Dana Point councilwoman who has helped spearhead the harbor revitalization efforts. “All three components were tied together on financing.”

Bartlett said she expects her colleagues to be supportive of separating out the marina and commercial core projects and that they won’t consider that “a violation of the county’s lease agreement.” She’s also expecting the total cost of the revitalization to come in at closer to $400 million, when has been estimated at $330 million.

In recent weeks, there’s been a flurry of speculation in the boater and local community worried the project had stalled.

And, when Harbor Grill Restaurant recently announced plans to close on Sept. 31, locals flooded social media worried about plans for the businesses.

The Hicks family, who have owned the restaurant since 1984, said, “for 20 years we have been looking forward to participating in the harbor revitalization” and had been in talks with Bryon Ward, president of Burnham Ward Properties, who is heading up the development of the commercial core.

In a social media post, the family wrote that Ward had been supporting the family’s vision and had “hoped to find the Harbor Grill a new home within the harbor.”

“However, after exploring our options, including the logistical challenges presented by an extended construction shutdown, our family ultimately decided not to move forward with pursuing a new space.”

Bob Mardian, who founded some of the harbor’s oldest businesses, including the Wind & Sea Restaurant, said he believes the rumors are fueled by the “landlords not communicating.”

He confirmed that his second restaurant, Harpoon Henry’s opened in 1975, will also close.

“The landlord has said when they get done with the parking structure, all of the Marina Village – including Harpoon Henry’s – will be eliminated,” Mardian said. “When they demolish those buildings, they’re not going to rebuild Harpoon Henry’s. They said it’s a replica of Wind & Sea.”

Mardian disagreed, saying the two restaurants have different menus and ambiance.

Mardian said he expects Harpoon Henry’s – a nod to the town’s namesake, Richard Henry Dana – to remain open through Oct. 31, which is when his lease expires. “If they don’t tear Harpoons down by then, we’ll go month to month. It’s been there for 47 years, and I’m not happy about it.”

“I think the culture (of the harbor) will change,” he added. “I’m not in favor of it losing its soul, but I think that will happen based on renderings I’ve seen. It will become a busier commercial center and I do believe Wind & Sea will do bigger volumes.”

While the Marina Village will be taken down, Ueberroth said the construction and demolition will be in stages and the partners’ will relocate some of the tenants. Ward could not be reached for comment.

“We acknowledge it’s a reconstruction of the whole harbor,” Ueberroth said. “We’re taking down 20,000 square feet and putting up 80,000.”

Ueberroth said for the waterside work, much of it is happening elsewhere for now. The docks are being constructed at a facility in Dixon and will be trucked to Dana Point once complete.

A barge with equipment for the construction and demolition will be in the harbor next month, he said.

In the meantime, existing tenants in C-Dock are getting notices to move their boats to another part of the harbor. Once the docks are empty, the old docks will be destroyed and the new ones will be put in. That section of marina should be done by fall.

The parking structure construction will take between nine months and a year, he said.

“We’re building this for the community,” Ueberroth said. “It will be an asset for everyone and for people from all over the world to come and visit.”

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