Nonprofit offers sole management bid

Crystal Cove Alliance is the only group that will be considered to manage historic beachfront cottages.Officials with the California Department of Recreation will consider a proposal that would allow the Crystal Cove Alliance to manage cottages in the Crystal Cove Historic District.

“Today is a big day for our organization,” Crystal Cove Alliance founder Laura Davick said.

Wednesday was the last day for businesses and nonprofits to submit bids to the parks department to operate 13 cottages along with restaurants and visitor services at Crystal Cove. State parks spokesman Roy Stearns said the Corona del Mar-based Crystal Cove Alliance is the only organization whose proposal will be considered.

The only other bid was from a Rutherford-based organization called Recreation Del Sol Enterprises LLC, Stearns said. However, the Northern California group’s submission came in after the 2 p.m. deadline.

“At some point you have to draw a line in the sand,” Stearns said.

Though the Crystal Cove Alliance is the sole bidder, the group is not guaranteed a deal. Stearns said parks department officials have yet to determine whether the alliance’s plan is in accordance with the department’s requirements for the Historic District. The department wants to select an organization to manage the cottages by January, when the first phase of cottage restoration is expected to be complete.

The Crystal Cove Alliance is working with the parks department to raise money for educational facilities at Crystal Cove. The alliance raised $140,000 for the Historic District at a late-September gala.

“Our organization has been intimately involved in the preservation of the cottages for the last six years,” Davick said.

If the group ends up managing the Historic District, Davick expects the organization will continue to raise funds while it manages park amenities, which would include the Crystal Cove Shake Shack.

If the first phase of cottage restorations are completed by January, much work remains before the Historic District will be fully restored.

“We still have 24 cottages to restore, and we still have to raise $15 million for that restoration,” Davick said.

If that $15 million became immediately available, restorations on those 24 cottages would take a minimum of three years to complete.

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* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at [email protected].