Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Ah, the good ole days. Back when Balboa’s Fun Zone had not just the great Ferris Wheel (which still remains) but also had the sidewalk rides, the bumper cars, the scary dark ride, the carousel, and countless other family-owned businesses in the FunZone complex.
Sushi 21 was another great amenity which was forced out of their space by ExplorOcean management, and Newport Boat Rentals was forced into a total sale of their business through an overbearing lease negotiation of their docks. The new owner of the Newport Boat Rentals is rumored to be the outgoing CEO of ExplorOcean. This would mean he leveraged his position as the ExplorOcean CEO (leaseholder) to gain personal profit on the side. If this is true, it is certainly shameful and likely illegal.
So who is ExplorOcean, and how did they get where they are today? Well, here is a brief synopsis of history, with some adjustments made for the sake of concise storytelling:
About 30 years ago, the owner of the Fun Zone property wanted to turn the place into a hotel. Locals threw an absolute fit about it, saying that you can’t put a hotel on the beloved Fun Zone. So, they said “how about a museum then? We will buy the Nautical Museum (then, on a boat) and put it on land”. People loved our Nautical Museum, so it was kind of a wash– if they wanted to put the museum in where the Scary Dark Ride was, well, ok. Soon, people found out what the new takeover really meant. It wasn’t just one ride that was leaving– it was almost everything fun about Fun Zone. Even more insulting, the Nautical Museum was essentially shelved, with many donors telling me that the new museum had “lost” their items of great historical significance.
After the Fun Zone had been successfully sterilized and traffic had died down tremendously, ExplorOcean hit up the city to become the leaseholder for the parking lot which borders it on the inland side, our illustrious city council gave them carte blanche, and ExplorOcean secured a 70 year lease on the entire $14m property for less than $1 per day– that’s less than what they would have paid in taxes if the city had simply given them the land.
Outraged, I offered the city more– not 50% more. Not even double, or triple. I offered the city TEN TIMES what ExplorOcean was paying. The result? Deaf ears. This crony deal was already done, and ExplorOcean had successfully received $14m of our taxpayer-owned property for a comical pittance– all with the full blessings of our council.
With the exception of only a handful of museums in the world, they all have one thing in common: they all lose gobs of money and require regular bailouts from taxpayers. So why would someone put a guaranteed money-loser on some of the most expensive land in America? Did they expect to rise to the level of The Louvre or The Smithsonian and fund themselves while only being open 5 hours on Saturday and Sunday, and closed the rest of the week?
ExplorOcean receives virtually no foot traffic. In fact, according to their 990 tax form, the operation is running heavy losses:
– Three years ago of $244,000
– Two years ago a loss of $544,000
– Last year a loss of $1.4 million dollars.
Thus, over the last 3 years, according to public record, ExplorOcean has lost nearly $2.2 million dollars. Working off of an $8m endowment, that money looks poised to run out in approximately 3 more years, in 2019. Who will come to their rescue? Who will inject cash into them, or buy out the property?
Well, they can’t put a hotel on the Fun Zone
but they can put a museum on the Fun Zone
and they can put a hotel on a museum.
The last time the hotel was pitched for the land, the Coastal Commission said that it wouldn’t fly without a 3-story parking garage– which nobody nearby had the right to build or the land to build it on. ExplorOcean just got that right during the taxpayer land giveaway sponsored by the Newport Council, though.
So who will take over the property when ExplorOcean fails? Anyone want to place bets?
