The Coastal Commission recently approved a coastal development permit to turn the former Main Street Bank of America building into a restaurant.
In February 2025, the Seal Beach Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the proposed restaurant space. (For details, see “Planners OK restaurant space on Main” at sunnews.org.) The owners have not announced the name of a tenant for the space. Of course, they had to wait until they got a permit to convert a bank building into a restaurant.
208 Main Street, LLC applied for the Coastal Commission permit. In addition to changing a former bank into a restaurant, the owners will remove three parking space, add one parking space, install a new patio, trash enclosure and add a bike rack at 200 Main and 208 Main.
“The gross square footage of building would remain the same,” according to the staff report.
This was a Consent Calendar item. It was approved without discussion (but with some conditions) on Thursday, Oct. 9.
“Main Street is an area that provides for a pedestrian-oriented mix of offices and buildings, surrounded by an area of mixed housing types and institutions,” according to the unsigned Coastal Commission staff report.
“It also serves as a primary location for the public to access the coast since the Seal Beach Pier and the beach are located at the end of Main Street. The immediate project vicinity consequently experiences high vehicular volumes during the summer months. A lack of public parking discourages visitors from coming to the beach and taking part in other visitor-serving activities in the Coastal Zone. All development must, as a consequence, provide adequate onsite parking to minimize adverse impacts on public access. While the project provides 17 onsite parking spaces, the project requires 8 additional spaces that are not proposed onsite,” according to the CCC report.
“Staff had discussions with the applicant on ways to reduce the amount of off-street parking needed for the project, thus minimizing restaurant customers from using public parking on Main Street and the adjacent public streets. In response to those discussions, the applicant has proposed to reduce the Customer Service Area, provide additional onsite bike parking for a total of 9 spaces, and offer transit passes at 100% of the cost to 100% of the employees. There are two bus lines within walking distance of the project site,” according to the CCC report.
