Magic Island Sues Landlord

NEWPORT BEACH — Magic Island, a Balboa Peninsula theater-restaurant devoted to legerdemain, has performed the ultimate magic--it vanished during a dispute with its landlord.

But owner Terry Giles, a Santa Ana lawyer, said Monday that this is just an illusion and that the 11-year-old Magic Island will reappear in another Orange County location later this year.

Giles’ company, Grand Illusion Enterprises Inc. in Santa Ana, is the parent of Magic Island. It has been locked in a four-month contract dispute with its landlord, Inglewood-based Marvin Engineering Co., which bought the Lido Marina Village in May, 1990.

Grand Illusion, which filed a Superior Court lawsuit in October, 1991, accused Marvin Engineering of unfairly changing a 30-year contract Grand Illusion had signed with the previous property owners. The contract includes provisions for free parking for Magic Island’s clients and regular property upkeep, according to Giles.

Grand Illusion seeks up to $4 million in damages for breach of contract, moving and relocation costs, reimbursement of tenant-paid improvements to the property and the value of the lease, which still has more than 20 years to run.

Marvin Engineering “changed so many aspects of our lease that it became intolerable for us,” Giles said Monday. “So they got what they wanted when we moved Dec. 23, but they also got something they didn’t want--a lawsuit.”

Richard H. Berger, an attorney representing Marvin Engineering, said his client countersued, accusing Grand Illusion of not paying four months’ rent totaling $80,000.

During its heyday in the mid-1980s, the restaurant charged clients $750 to join the club and $200 in annual fees.