Capital Pacific Hopes to Build Resort in Dana Point

A Newport Beach home builder that has been expanding aggressively in Southern California’s hot coastal markets is close to reviving a long-dormant Dana Point project that includes a 400-room luxury hotel.

Capital Pacific Holdings Inc., which also announced another big residential land purchase Friday, will ask the Dana Point City Council on Tuesday to extend development permits for the 225-acre site.

The project, just inland from the Ritz-Carlton, is envisioned as a Pebble Beach-style golf resort. In addition to the five-star hotel, an expansion of the Monarch Beach Golf Links into a PGA-approved championship course is planned, along with a gated, luxury residential development with 238 homes.

Capital Pacific wants to buy the Dana Point property from a subsidiary of Nippon Shinpan Co., a Japanese credit-card company. Nippon Shinpan’s $500-million plans for the site, approved by the city in 1992, foundered along with the economy in the early 1990s, and financing sources dried up.

In letters to the city, Capital Pacific says it can complete the property purchase on Wednesday--but only if the city development permits are in place.

“They told me they need the extension [of the city permits] to secure their financing,” said Ed Knight, community development director for Dana Point.

A Capital Pacific spokeswoman declined to comment on the Dana Point project until the City Council meets.

The project is one of many luxury hotels proposed on the south Orange County coast.

Other possible sites include a former trailer park in South Laguna, the Dana Point Headlands, the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach and Newport Coast south of Corona del Mar. Also planned for the latter area are a Marriott International time-share complex and the conversion of ramshackle Crystal Cove cottages into a public resort.

Capital Pacific has been busy in coastal markets over the last year. On Friday, the company said it purchased the balance of an 80-acre parcel in the Newport Coast project from the Irvine Co. for an undisclosed price.

Capital Pacific plans to develop 97 mansions overlooking the ocean. When completed in fall 1999, the homes are expected to be priced at $1 million and higher, adding about $140 million in revenue. In 1997, Capital Pacific posted $191 million in sales.