Building plans approved

A plan was approved at the April 15 City Council meeting for what promises to be one of the biggest restaurants in Laguna Beach — but not as big as the property owner wants — at the historic Heisler Building, longtime former site of the Jolly Roger.

The council voted to limit seating to 230 for a restaurant, as yet unnamed, upstairs over a Tommy Bahama apparel and home furnishings store, which the council also approved. The seating limit, recommended by the Planning Commission, is 30 seats more than planning staff recommended, but 30 seats less than owner Sam Goldstein wanted, and is tied in any case to reduced parking requirements.

“I go along with the Planning Commission,” Councilman Kelly Boyd said. “We don’t know what’s going in there. A 54.5 [percent parking reduction] is as far as I am willing to go at this time. He can always come back later.”

Goldstein believes he needs 260 seats to attract a restaurant operator. The increased seating would require a reduction of 59.5% in the parking requirements for the building — 24.1 spaces for the two ground floor retail shops and 86.7 spaces for the restaurant.

In a letter addressed to the council, Goldstein wrote that parking incentives are offered to encourage investment in the high-cost enterprise of building restoration and preservation and parking credits should be based on the degree to which the historical character of the building is restored, enhanced and preserved.

“The parking credit requested would in no way correspond to the higher investment I am making in this building, as compared with investments actually made by the building’s previous owner and occupants,” Goldstein wrote.

Attorney Roger Grable said 260 seats and a 59.5% reduction in parking requirements set the benchmark for what Goldstein had put into the project.

As a comparison to Goldstein’s request, Las Brisas restaurant can seat 186 customers in the main dining areas, another 80 in the bar, 25 in the lower lounge and up to 100 in the outdoor patio.

However, it has on-site parking, whereas all of the parking for the Heisler Building is on paper.

A total of 111 spaces are required for the Heisler building. With a 59.5% reduction of 66 spaces, the requirement drops to 45 spaces, covered by grandfathered spaces and in-lieu certificates. No real spaces would be provided, but the reduction would allow the increase in permitted restaurant seating.

“We told Sam we wanted to see the actual business before we gave him the additional [parking] credits,” Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman said. “We did the same thing with the Pottery Shack.

“Historic trumps everything in my mind.”

The 230 seats recommended by the commission and upheld by the council was based on the combined seating approved for the former Jolly Roger on the ground floor of the building and a series of eating and alcohol-serving establishments on the second floor, most recently Laguna Beach Brewing Co.

“But the commission made it clear: Bring in your restaurant and we will review it again and the council said the same thing,” Goldstein said.

“I haven’t got a clue who will come in there, but I am actively looking. There are a lot of impediments to a second story rental, period, regardless of what it is.”

The original application included the Tommy Bahama store and the existing Soul to Sole shoe shop on the ground floor and a Fred’s Mexican Restaurant upstairs, a chain not favorably viewed by staff or the commission. The proposal for Fred’s was subsequently withdrawn, as was the attendant request for a permit for live entertainment and dancing.

Goldstein, a Laguna Beach resident for 28 years, purchased the Heisler Building in July 2006 for $11 million.

The building has been on the city’s Historic Register since 1994. However, in the years since, the building has been neglected and renovations badly botched, said architect Todd Skenderian,

A 7-1 majority of the Heritage Committee voted to recommend approval of plans submitted by Goldstein for the E for Exceptional-rated building. The proposal for the exterior renovation, which the committee majority said preserves and enhances what remains of the character-defining features of the original French-influenced style of the building, were provided by Tommy Bahama.

“They sent an architect down here three times and he listened to the Heritage Committee and drew up the renderings that were approved,” Goldstein said.

“Todd [Skenderian] will design the interior and do the dimensions of the outside to reflect what was approved, so I can get my building permit.”

Goldstein hopes to have the Tommy Bahama store open by spring 2009.

“Now we have to find a restaurant that will take the customers off the street and lift them upstairs,” Goldstein said.