A demolition crew has been working at the former Bank of American building on Main Street. City and state permits have already been issued to allow the conversion of the bank building into a restaurant building.
Meanwhile, at least one other business is scheduled to come to Main Street Seal Beach in the near future.
District Two Seal Beach Councilman Ben Wong said the owners of the building that used to be the location of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shop at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway were looking for a long-term tenant.
Wong brought up the incoming dessert shop while talking about the city’s efforts to attract business at the Chamber of Commerce during the Thursday, Aug. 13, Chamber Networking Breakfast. Wong said he was there to talk about business first, an apparent reference to the city’s new Business First Committee. Wong is a corporate accountant.
A Chaupain Artisan Bakery is expected to open following the ongoing remodel of the former Old Town Café space on Main. The company logo is already on display at the shop. Community Development Director Shaun Temple confirmed the bakery was replacing Old Town café in a July email.
In June, the owners of Chaupain Bakery announced on their Facebook page that they were breaking ground on their fifth location in Seal Beach.
The Sun previously reported on another business, a Belgian waffle shop that is scheduled to come to Seal Beach in the near future. (See “Planners OK dessert shop” at sunnews.org.) The dessert shop will be in the former location of the Christian Science Reading Room. The Belgian waffle shop recently took an online survey of Old Town on the Nextdoor social media platform. No opening date for the dessert shop has yet been announced.
Wong said the owner of the waffle shop got through the planning permitting in six weeks. He credited Management Analyst and business concierge Jennifer Robles with getting that through the process.
As for the former coffee shop, Wong said city staff, including Robles and Community Development Director Temple, were able to find the building owner. According to Wong, the building owners want a long-term tenant. Wong said the city suggested a bagel shop at the location.
More on business
He said that when he joined the council, he noticed the vacancies on Main Street. “Now, Main Street might not be specifically my area, my district, but we’re still all Seal Beach, right?” Wong asked.
According to Wong, at one time there were a lot of vacancies on Main Street. He gave a number that could not be confirmed. He did not specify the time period.
In August 2025, the Sun reported nine empty spaces on Main. (See “Nine empty commercial spaces on Main Street Seal Beach” at sunnews.org.) In June 2026, the count was six. (See “Main Street inventory” at sunnews.org.)
Wong said the Main Street Specific Plan came out around 1996. “It’s almost 30 years old now,” Wong said.
He called the specific plan “a bit constricted.” He later called it outdated.
“This community likes music,” Wong said.
Wong pointed to the stage in O’Malley’s.
“But if we want a new restaurant, let’s say Bank of America, they can’t have it,” Wong said.
“That’s one edit we could do,” Wong said.
He said there was a culture of no franchises in Seal Beach.
He said even Charo Chicken would qualify as a franchise.
“I’m not looking for another McDonald’s I’m not looking for another Starbucks. But what I am looking for is to have a bit of bandwidth,” Wong said.
Wong also called for beautification of Main, specifically power washing the streets, triming some of the trees and improve the lighting.
Wong said the Ad Hoc Business First Committee, which was formed last year, was designed so Seal Beach could be more proactive. “Instead of just finding that there’s a vacancy here and passively waiting for a business to find us, we’re going to try to find them” Wong said.
“We could shape this Main Street in a much, much more proactive way, right?” Wong said.
Part of that was the creation of the Business Concierge Program.
“When you come to city Hall, you’re going to have somebody now from the business side to help walk you through what you need to do to get registered, what kind of permitting you might need to do, what kind of regulations you might be running into, and they’re going to handhold you through the process so that it’s not as intimidating,” Wong said.
At the end of his presentation, Wong said the next meeting of the Business First Committee would be held at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 16, at City Hall.