150 luxury apartments, each between 2,100 and 6,400 square feet, with not a single affordable housing unit — that is the entire legacy that Related California will leave behind in the Newport Beach community after demolishing a 57-year-old cinema. The city council's decision on April 28, 2026, was not merely a vote on urban planning. It was an economic statement: in one of California's most expensive real estate markets, community memory cannot compete with profit per square foot.
In one of California's most expensive real estate markets, community memory cannot compete with profit per square foot.
From Movie Theater to Luxury Tower: The Bigger Picture
Big Newport — officially the Regal Edwards Big Newport — opened its doors in 1969, when Newport Beach was still a mid-tier coastal city in development, not yet the luxury real estate hub it is today. The founder of this theater chain, James Edwards Jr., built Edwards Theatres into an iconic brand of Southern California before it was absorbed into Regal Cinemas. His son, James Edwards III, confirmed to the city council that the theater would close no later than June 30, 2027 regardless of whether the project is approved — an important detail that the Save Our Theater advocacy group largely overlooked in its arguments.
But the collapse of Big Newport is not a standalone story. It is one link in a chain of transformations reshaping the entertainment landscape across Orange County and Southern California. In March 2026, according to sources from the original article, Shea Properties received approval from the city of Anaheim to demolish a 62,000-square-foot Regal Edwards theater that closed in 2022 in Anaheim Hills to build 447 rental apartments. Two projects, two locations, the same formula: old movie theater plus valuable commercial land equals luxury housing or mixed-use development.
According to data from the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) — unrelated to the military alliance of the same name — the number of movie theaters in the United States has declined significantly since its peak before the COVID-19 pandemic, and many venues have yet to recover to 2019 revenue levels. The rise of streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max has fundamentally changed American entertainment habits, particularly for those under 35 years old.
Project Anatomy: Winners and Losers
The Related California project — the California division of the New York-based real estate company Related Companies — proposes building two 22-story towers on a 4.17-acre parcel at 210 and 300 Newport Center Drive, near Fashion Island. A total of 150 apartments for sale, ranging from 2,100 to 6,400 square feet, with 2 to 4 bedrooms.
The most striking number is the absent one: not a single housing unit is classified as affordable housing according to regional income standards. In a market where, according to the California Association of Realtors, the median home price in Orange County has exceeded 1 million dollars, 150 apartments spanning thousands of square feet near Fashion Island will solve no housing problems for middle or lower-income families.
A resident spoke out about this at the council meeting, complaining about the absence of affordable housing in the project. That complaint is entirely justified — but it also needs to be placed in context: Newport Beach is not a city designed for middle-income earners, and the city council has consistently prioritized luxury development consistent with existing infrastructure and planning. Council member Robyn Grant stated this bluntly: the project aligns with developments already built by Irvine Company in the area and is well-served by existing infrastructure.
This is an argument about planning consistency, not social justice — and that is precisely what California state law allows cities to do, at least until regulations like SB 9 and other state housing laws continue to restrict local government authority.
Legal Maneuvering: A Battle Not Yet Finished
The city council voted unanimously to reject the appeal from Save Our Theater, thereby maintaining approvals from March 2026. But according to the original article, the opposing parties still have 35 days to take the matter to court.
The possibility of legal challenge could take one of two main directions:
First, a lawsuit based on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which is notorious as a powerful legal tool frequently used by development opponents to slow or prevent projects. Save Our Theater cited environmental reasons in its appeal, and if they can demonstrate that the city's environmental impact report has deficiencies, a superior court judge could order a reassessment.
Second, arguments about historic preservation. Although Big Newport has not been listed on any official historic registry based on available information, some communities have successfully obtained emergency historic designations to temporarily block demolition. However, this path is extremely difficult when the theater brand owner itself has confirmed plans to close.
History shows that CEQA challenges can extend a project by many years — but rarely kill an already fully approved project outright. Related California, with experience developing dozens of luxury projects throughout California, certainly has factored this scenario into their plans.
Vietnamese Community Perspective: Space, Memory, and the Housing Equation
The Vietnamese community in Southern California — particularly in Little Saigon in Westminster, Garden Grove, and neighboring Orange County cities — has a special connection to this story, though not in the most direct way.
Many Vietnamese families in Orange County have been attached to the Edwards theater chain across generations. For the first wave of refugees arriving in America after 1975, large cinemas like Big Newport were one of the rare public spaces they could access without major language or cultural barriers — an action film or cartoon doesn't require perfect English. This was Americanization in the most practical sense.
But the economic equation posed by the Related project is even more complex for the Vietnamese community. Orange County is currently experiencing displacement pressure — as real estate prices surge, middle-income families, including many first and second-generation Vietnamese American households, are forced to move away from central areas toward more distant cities like Riverside or San Bernardino County. Newport Beach's continued development of luxury housing with no affordable housing component does not address this pressure — it only hardens the economic boundaries of a region already deeply stratified.
On the other hand, some Vietnamese American real estate entrepreneurs, who understand the potential of the Newport Beach market well, may view this project as an investment opportunity — particularly larger apartments that could attract affluent families looking to upgrade from neighboring areas. The Vietnamese community in Southern California is not monolithic; the distance between second and third-generation successful entrepreneurs and first-generation working families is widening.
Bigger Trend: The Death of Suburban Movie Theaters
The vote in Newport Beach is just one note in a symphony playing across the United States. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, hundreds of large retail and entertainment venues in suburbs are being redeveloped into housing or mixed-use districts — from Sears and JCPenney anchor stores to once-bustling multiplexes.
This model reflects a paradox of the American housing market: suburban land originally designed for mass consumption can now only be economically redeveloped when targeting the upper class. The costs of demolition, design, construction, and regulatory compliance in expensive California markets are so high that only luxury housing generates enough profit to justify the investment. This is not the greed of a particular developer — it is market logic, and it leaves no room for nostalgia or collective memory.
Employee Nicholas, who worked at the theater and proposed converting it to an event center, spoke before the council — but his proposal lacked the most important thing: a viable business model. In the context of Newport Center Drive, where land is priced according to Fashion Island standards, no event center could compete in land-use efficiency with 150 luxury apartments.
Outlook: When and What Happens Next
If there is no successful legal challenge in the next 35 days, Related California will move into technical design and building permit applications. The realistic timeline, based on similar projects in Southern California, suggests demolition could begin as early as late 2027, after Big Newport officially closes per James Edwards III's commitment.
There are three scenarios worth monitoring:
- Scenario 1 — Project Proceeds as Planned: Most likely. Related has the capital, the experience, and valid approvals. Two 22-story towers will rise at Newport Center Drive around 2029 to 2030.
- Scenario 2 — Delays Due to CEQA: A successful CEQA lawsuit could force supplemental environmental reports, extending the timeline by 12 to 24 months but unlikely to stop the project entirely.
Scenario 3 — Renegotiation: In rare cases, political pressure combined with legal challenges could lead to renegotiation, in which Related agrees to add some affordable housing units or community space in exchange for dismissing challenges. This has happened with some projects in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but Newport Beach has a firmer tradition in protecting its luxury character.
Whichever scenario unfolds, the larger lesson remains clear: in ultra-luxury coastal California real estate markets, cultural space has no economic protection mechanism if it cannot sustain itself. Save Our Theater may be right about Big Newport's community value. But in a system where success is measured by profit per acre, that argument — however sincere — lacks the power to change the outcome.