Recently, the Huntington Beach City Council approved an expansion of Pierside Pavilion, a retail, restaurant and office center on Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. The news comes after the city council overturned a Planning Commission recommendation. Huntington Beach home owners will now see an expanded four-story building with 30,000 additional square feet to Pierside.
On the first floor, there will be additional retail stores and another restaurant will be added to the second floor. The third and fourth floors will consist of additional office space. The hope is to entice new tenants and offset a decline that occurred back when a movie theater vacated the space in 2007. Developers say the project will not only improve the building and area, but it will also create jobs and attract new businesses to the city.
Some nearby Pier Colony residents are concerned about their beach view, which they believe could be compromised with the new construction. Additionally, they worry about traffic and noise. Some Huntington Beach home owners turned out to speak against the expansion. Adds Pier Colony resident David Abu, “It’s totally out of character with the rest of our shore.”
But as officials point out, there is always going to be pushback, as it’s hard to please everyone. Councilman Keith Bohr voted in favor of the plan and said, “It seems to me that there’s almost nothing you can build that doesn’t bother the folks next door.”
Councilman Joe Carchio appealed the Planning Commission’s vote to the council after they shot down the plan this summer. His thinking is that the project will be a huge asset to downtown. He adds, “This is really a real improvement to the area. Everybody, and even the folks sitting up there, will agree that this space there is underutilized. It’s going to increase business downtown.”
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