Commercial property types in Monarch Beach

What does the resort hotel and its grounds include, and what governs them?

The California Coastal Commission’s February 2003 staff report records that Coastal Development Permit 5-92-168, in 1992, approved a 400 key resort hotel, then the St. Regis, and eighty-six residential units around it.^[1] Hilton’s January 2021 release describes the same resort, now Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club, as having 400 guest rooms and suites,^[5] and the resort’s own page describes its grounds as 175 oceanfront acres.^[4] No room rates, occupancy or ownership figures are sourced on this site.

The land is governed by an adopted specific plan. The City of Dana Point Zoning Code, Chapter 9.33, lists SP91-01 Monarch Beach Resort by name, and says that where a specific plan addresses zoning matters it supersedes the land use regulations applicable to the property.^[2] The commission’s April 2003 staff report refers to its 1992 approval of what is now the St. Regis Hotel, which came before the city’s Local Coastal Program was certified.^[14]

Dana Point (citywide) figures give only context. The City of Dana Point’s September 2025 financial report lists Transient Occupancy Tax first among the city’s largest annual revenue sources, ahead of property tax and sales tax, and reports a decrease of $212,500, or 3.5 percent, in that tax. The report mentions ongoing renovations at the Ritz-Carlton.^[13] The report is citywide, and this site does not place the Ritz-Carlton in Monarch Beach.

If you are weighing anything on resort land, ask City of Dana Point planning staff for the current SP91-01 text and every amendment before you read the base zoning, and ask whether the plan addresses your use. Ask separately for the Coastal Commission permit history for permit 5-92-168 and any later actions. Compare any hotel-income assumption with property-level figures from the operator, not with citywide tax totals.

What should you check about the golf course and its public clubhouse?

The Southern California Golf Association’s FORE Magazine says Monarch Beach Golf Links opened in a part of Laguna Niguel later incorporated as Dana Point, and that it was called Salt Creek Golf Course. The magazine describes it as the first upper-end public course in Orange County, notes that only two holes lie on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway, and cites a 1983 account of a 200-foot tunnel built under the highway at a cost of $600,000.^[6] Hilton describes the resort as having an oceanfront 18-hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.^[5]

The planning record adds two details. First, the specific plan’s land use plan uses designations such as GC (golf course) and RES (residential), and a 2003 amendment moved land from GC to RES; Section 2.1 of the plan allows minor adjustments to land use boundaries.^[1] Second, the same permit history records public access to the golf clubhouse from Niguel Road.^[1] A separate April 2003 staff report includes a section titled maintenance of public access.^[14]

If a parcel touches the course, ask planning staff which land use designation applies today and whether a boundary adjustment or amendment has ever moved it. Ask who maintains the public access to the clubhouse and what the permit conditions require. Ask whether the Pacific Coast Highway crossing carries easements or maintenance obligations that would pass to a new owner.

What is known about the Monarch Bay Plaza shopping center?

Orange Coast Magazine describes Monarch Bay Plaza as a Spanish-style center perched above Pacific Coast Highway that reflects the relaxed sophistication of its Dana Point neighborhood, with boutiques and restaurants.^[7] That description is the whole of what the sources read for this site say about the Monarch Bay Plaza shopping center. No building size, owner, anchor tenant, vacancy or zoning is sourced here, and none is stated. No property-level market data for the center is sourced on this page.

For scale only, Kidder Mathews reports Orange County retail for the third quarter of 2026 at 3.3 percent vacancy, an asking rent of $2.77 per square foot per month, a sales price of $546 per square foot and a cap rate of 5.2 percent.^[10] Those are countywide figures, not figures for this center.

If you are considering space or an investment here, ask the landlord or property manager for the current rent roll, lease expirations, any percentage-rent or use clauses, and the operating expense history. Ask planning staff what the zoning allows for restaurants and outdoor seating, and whether the center sits inside a specific plan or the base district. Compare the center’s own history with the Orange County figures and ask whether the countywide cap rate applies at all.

How does the Commercial Residential district apply to Monarch Beach?

A November 1999 Coastal Commission report concerned a Local Coastal Program amendment on uses in the Commercial Residential zoning district in the Monarch Beach area of Dana Point; the amendment also named a second area of the city that this site does not research.^[3] That is the only sourced statement about the district, so the page does not say which parcels it covers, what it permits today or whether the amendment took effect as proposed.

If you are looking at mixed commercial and residential property, ask planning staff for the current text of the district, a map showing which parcels carry it, and the certified version of the coastal program that applies. Ask what changed after 1999. Check whether ground-floor commercial use is required or only allowed, and whether any parcel also falls inside the resort specific plan, and which text applies if both speak to the same use.

Which visitor uses sit beside Salt Creek Beach?

OC Parks lists Salt Creek Beach Park at 33333 S. Pacific Coast Hwy. It describes pay and display parking at $1 per hour year-round, with an annual County beach parking card also available, and restrooms with outside showers and a paved parking area. OC Parks also calls the park a popular surfing location with a small offshore reef producing left swells.^[11] A May 2021 Coastal Commission report describes a Salt Creek outlet structure and a beach emergency access road used by lifeguards and pedestrians at the Monarch Bay Club.^[12]

The sources give no visitor counts, no lot capacity and no spending data, so this site states none. If you are considering a food, retail or service use that depends on beach traffic, ask OC Parks about parking supply and any planned changes, ask planning staff what coastal permit applies to signage, outdoor seating and hours, and ask whether customers are expected to use the pay-and-display lot or on-site parking.

Which market figures exist, and for what geography?

Kidder Mathews does not report Monarch Beach alone. Its office and industrial tables cover a combined Dana Point/San Juan/San Clemente submarket, and its retail table covers Orange County. The table below keeps those labels exactly.

Read the office row first. Kidder Mathews reports that the combined submarket had total vacancy of 6.1 percent in the third quarter of 2026, made up of 5.5 percent direct and 0.6 percent sublet space.^[8] The industrial inventory is larger and its direct vacancy higher at 6.8 percent, while total availability is 13.2 percent.^[9] The combined submarket spans three places, and these figures are not Monarch Beach figures.

• If you compare a Monarch Beach asking rent with the full service office figure, confirm whether your quote is full service or triple net first.
• If you rely on the cap rate, remember it is an Orange County retail figure and says nothing about a single center.
• If a broker quotes a number for Monarch Beach, ask which geography and which quarter it describes.