HUNTINGTON BEACH : Surf Shop Owner, City Reach Pact

After initially resisting plans to demolish his structurally damaged store, the owner of landmark surf shop Jack’s Surfboards recently reached an agreement with the city to replace his 70-year-old building with a new structure.

Under the tentative pact with the city Redevelopment Agency, owner Mike Abdelmuti will raze the distinctive brick Obarr Building at Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street in exchange for a nearby piece of agency-owned property. A new, three-story structure to house Jack’s Surfboards would be built on the site.

Until recently, Abdelmuti had been one of the few downtown property owners fighting to save his old building. The Redevelopment Agency has long favored replacing the area’s aging structures with developments such as the Pierside Pavilion across Main Street from Jack’s.

Most other property owners in Abdelmuti’s block--bounded by Pacific Coast Highway, Main Street, Walnut Avenue and 5th Street--have agreed to a partnership with a private developer to reconstruct their buildings. City officials acknowledge that the building that housed Jack’s is the centerpiece of the block.

The city shut the building down last December after a large bulge developed in its exterior wall, and Abdelmuti had sought to rebuild the structure rather than replace it.

But after two months of negotiations, Abdelmuti agreed to accept 18,000 square feet of agency-owned land on Pacific Coast Highway in return for leveling the building. The agreement will be considered for final approval by the City Council next month.

Historic preservationists said that if the agreement is approved, the destruction of the building will deal a blow to efforts to maintain historic structures. The Obarr Building--built in 1920 when it housed Obarr Drug Store--through the years has become almost as distinctive a city landmark as the Municipal Pier, said Jerry Person, chairman of the city’s historic resources board.

“People relate the Obarr Building to the Huntington Beach Pier,” Person said. “And Jack’s has been so highly visible . . . people not only know the pier as a landmark, but they know Jack’s. They’ve become almost synonymous.”