Photo Credit: Dan Herman
Marina Park—located on Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, Calif.—officially opened in December 2016 after more than 10 years in the planning, design, and construction process. The park site and the story leading to opening day dates back to the early 1900s when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged lower Newport Bay to create the peninsula and the site for Marina Park. The story is well documented on the city’s website and in the book Bawdy Balboa written by Judge Robert Gardner.
Prior to development of the park, a majority of the site was used as a mobile home park. The site also included three tennis courts, a 3,000-square-foot community center, a 2,000-square-foot Girl Scout facility, and Arenas Park which consisted of a small area with playground equipment. While limited access to the bay and beach was provided, views of the bay from the adjoining community and Balboa Boulevard were completely blocked. The park now consists of 1,200 linear feet of bay beachfront and an approximately 10-acre rectangular parcel located between the bay and Balboa Boulevard. The parcel features a large central green space ringed by a nautically themed playground, a half-court basketball facility, the Girl Scout House on the north side, the Community and Sailing Center, and a marina designed for youth sailing and 43 visiting vessels on the south side. This layout provides over 400 linear feet—longer than a football field—of open space, providing a “window to the bay” and the key elements most desired by the community.
Marina Park has been well received by the community and every weekend finds the community rooms and outdoor spaces filled with events, classes, birthday parties, free play, and picnicking. The residents, parks and community service staff members, and city council all consider the park a resounding success. From an architect’s point of view, the project is successful for many reasons, but the leadership shown by city council, the city manager’s office and public works and parks and community service staff members resulted in the park being really special and why it has become so important to the community. Someone once told me that it takes a great client to produce a great project and Marina Park is certainly testimony to this.