Laguna to sell land once intended for fire station for $3.55 million

Three years after acquiring two parcels in the southern part of town for civic purposes, Laguna Beach is selling the land for $3.55 million.

Laguna Beach bought 31729 and 31735 Coast Highway, known locally as the Ti Amo property after the Italian restaurant that previously operated there, for a purchase price of $2.7 million on Sept. 6, 2021.

The land had been identified as a potential site for the city to build a new Fire Station No. 4, but on Jan. 12, 2023, the city purchased property at 31796 Coast Highway for $6.1 million with the same goal of replacing the fire station at 31646 2nd Avenue in South Laguna.

City Manager Dave Kiff said Thursday the city is hoping for a 40-day escrow period. He added that the city is “actively planning for final design for the fire station building.”

D&S Partners LLC, the purchasing party, intends to put a bakery on the property, city officials said during Tuesday’s meeting.

“I think we bought it for a good price, I think they bought it for a good price, and I think we’re much better off,” Mayor Sue Kempf said just before a unanimous vote of the council to adopt a resolution approving the purchase and sale agreement and escrow instructions.

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Laguna Beach moves to close escrow on Ti Amo Ristorante property

The Laguna Beach City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday to move forward with the city’s proposed acquisition of the Ti Amo Ristorante property at 31727 Coast Highway for civic use.

Aug. 25, 2021

The parcels collectively amount to about 0.23 acres of land, on which sits a two-story building of approximately 3,411 square feet. Laguna Beach declared the property as surplus land on Jan. 24, 2023, and after satisfying Surplus Land Act requirements in November, the city put the property back on the open market in August.

Five letters of interest were submitted to the city regarding the property.

“If the agencies that are eligible to buy land under surplus land don’t respond, then we’ll market it with a real estate agent, just like you would any type of property,” Kiff said in explaining the process of the sale. “The council did consider those offers in closed session. … Just remember that offers come in different forms. Not everybody has to submit a cash offer. Some can submit something with different contingencies and different options, and I think council evaluated all that in coming to the conclusion that this offer was the best offer.”

“I think it’s a very attractive sales price,” Councilman George Weiss said. “I know the process wasn’t really right and [the city] should probably have not purchased it in the first place, but that being said, there was another $100,000 spent on an evaluation as a fire station, and they found that it could be if you did this, this and this — paid a lot of money to do that.”