After seven years in the making, the 39-unit apartment development on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Golden Lantern is expected to open soon, as the owner-developer Charles-Company works on finishing touches to the main street corner project.
The construction site at 34175 Pacific Coast Highway received Dana Point Planning Commission approval in February 2016. It comprises four studio apartments, 27 one-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedrooms, of which four are two-story townhomes.
Each apartment and townhome has in-unit washer-dryers, dishwashers and an electric stovetop. Each of the three apartment levels also has a trash and recycling chute. Residents will also have access to their own storage space—ideal for storing a bike or surfboard, Project Manager Roger Maw said.
Each apartment has its own balcony, enclosed in sound-attenuating and thermo-glass to keep out the street noise from the main roads of PCH and Golden Lantern.
The resident lobby is situated on San Juan Avenue and features the mailroom and resident elevator that services all floors. A second elevator services only parking levels and the commercial space.
The complex also has a small, 3-foot-deep pool with an ocean view.
Between the row of four two-story townhomes and the block of apartments, there’s a courtyard with planters made at seat level so residents can sit and enjoy the ocean views, Maw said. The courtyard has a stairway leading down to San Juan Avenue, where residents can walk straight from their apartment into the heart of the Lantern District.
Maw added that he thought residents and visitors will “feel good about being here.”
“They’re in Dana Point,” Maw continued. “They’re in 92629; that’s a killer address.”
Parking for residents and visitors of the retail spaces is subterranean, with three levels of underground parking totaling 97 spaces. The development offers 65 parking spaces for residents and 27 for commercial use.
“The design maximizes the residential with the parking and the retail to contain it within property line to property line,” Maw said. “That is really smart to keep the cars off the street.”
Maw added that the property is under the city’s height limit and does not interfere with neighboring views. Many of the apartment units have ocean views, looking down Golden Lantern.
The design, a mix of “siding and stucco and metal and glass … those elements work really well together to make it also feel like a home, not just a stucco building,” Maw said.
“It’s contemporary, but it doesn’t overpower anything in the area. It blends in a way that allows it to be contemporary with glass and metal siding without looking like some big monolith,” Maw said. “I think it’s inviting with the deck up right above the sidewalk, a pool right above the sidewalk. You’ll see people mingling up there, and it will just look inviting.”
The commercial spaces sit along Golden Lantern and San Juan Avenue. Philz Coffee is the first official business to join the development, filling one of three commercial spaces.
Maw added that two of the retail spaces will have outdoor café seating.
As Charles-Company wraps up construction, Maw noted that the goal is to open the development to potential residents by early fall.
Feeling close to the finish line, Maw said it “feels most excellent” to be so close to opening.
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