Junior lifeguards will have to wait to get into their new Newport Beach digs.
A much-anticipated, $5 million building just south of the Balboa Pier was supposed to be gearing up for a grand opening this Memorial Day weekend, but construction concerns have put the project on pause, city officials announced.
And since summer is right around the corner, work to finish the state-of-the-art junior lifeguard headquarters will have to wait until the busy beach season is over.
The city’s project managers determined the building’s concrete walls didn’t meet specifications established in the construction contract, officials said in an announcement. “Additional time is needed to rectify the issues.”
In the works for more than a decade, the facility is a private-public collaboration between the city and the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard Foundation, a nonprofit that undertook heavy fundraising efforts for the project. The building is slated to also be used for community events, rentals and meetings during the off season.
“Although this delay is regrettable, it is necessary to build an excellent facility that will serve our community for decades,” Mayor Noah Blom said in a statement. “We are working with our contractor and fully expect to resolve these issues, resume construction in the fall and celebrate the opening of a world-class facility next year.”
Since the popular program started in 1984, its instructors have worked out of two small temporary trailers. But the demand for the summer program has grown, with an estimated 1,350 participants and 60 instructors now involved.
The project gained approval from the California Coastal Commission in 2022; it had to meet several stipulations, including agreeing that no future shoreline protection devices can be added, meaning there could be no hard armoring using rock boulders or a sea wall if the sea level rises or sand erosion, storms or other natural hazards threaten the building.
Instead, the design raises the 5,400-square-foot building up a few feet off the ground, with berms built in anticipation of big swell events.
The project’s new target date is early 2024 in anticipation of next year’s summer program.
