Yes, that funky vibe at Crystal Cove State Park is, indeed, priceless.
But when a price tag is actually attached — say, $55 million to renovate 17 eclectic little cottages, averaging more than $3 million apiece — it can be a shock to the system.
Why the heck does it cost so much?! I mean, the Irvine Company probably spent less to build some of those McMansions in nearby Newport Coast!
When we posed this question to the folks at the Crystal Cove Conservancy, the nonprofit running the show with California State Parks, they were eager to answer.
A purple-gray marine layer rolled in as Kate Wheeler, president and CEO of the Conservancy, and Austin Barrow, chief operating officer, led us down the ocean-front boardwalk toward the forbidden zone behind a construction fence. Part of the answer was right beneath their feet.
This boardwalk got snagged at the California Coastal Commission, which feared it would behave too much like a seawall, allowing sand to be sucked away. It had to be re-engineered and redesigned to minimize erosion — an approval process that took some seven years. (Wheeler saw the wisdom of this last winter, when heavy rains and king tides created a sinkhole in front of the historic seawall at Cottage No. 13, while the boardwalk area was fine.)
Look up for more answers. The misty marine layer wafts up the bluffs and over towering retaining walls that protect these little slices of history from slides. This infrastructure was a huge part of the project’s cost: nearly $20 million.
The construction fence swung open and we stepped through. The next clue comes from the stunningly dangerous, decrepit, condemnable condition of the cottages themselves. No plans, no architects, no engineers — these were camps and lean-tos and shacks cobbled together from found objects by weekend warriors, which fell into an advanced state of decay. Many were slathered in lead paint. Drafty, cold, bad electrical, worse plumbing. Many didn’t have foundations and…
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