Main Street's Empty Storefronts Are Filling at the Speed of Permits

How does a waffle shop get from an empty storefront to an approved business on Main Street in six weeks, while the old Bank of America building down the block needed a vote from the California Coastal Commission just to be allowed to serve food?

The answer explains most of what you'll walk past on Main Street this fall. Seal Beach's Old Town vacancies are filling at different speeds, and the main reason is the type of approval each space needs. Since early 2026, the city has also had people whose job is to move applicants through that process faster.

Six Empty Spaces in June, and a Shorter List Since

In its June 4, 2026 count, the Sun found six empty commercial spaces on Main Street and said at least two would be open for business in the near future. The paper also noted that Seal Beach Vintage had opened at 246 Main since its previous count in March.

Solera Kitchen + Wine Bar at 210 Main was the biggest new opening of the year. It held a soft opening on June 15 and a grand opening on June 29, according to a Business Wire release from July.

The spaces still in progress tell more of the story than the ones already open.

The Waffle Shop Shows the Fast Lane

On April 6, the Seal Beach Planning Commission unanimously approved a minor use permit for a waffle and ice cream shop with outdoor dining in the former Christian Science Reading Room. The Sun reported that nobody submitted email comments, nobody spoke during public comment, and the meeting lasted about 20 minutes. The Reading Room itself didn't leave Main Street. It moved to another address on the same street.

The applicant is Georges Hoebrechts, who has owned restaurants in Belgium, and the shop will use both floors of the building. When Commissioner Susan Perrell asked whether it would also serve coffee, he said yes.

Even a quick approval came with conditions about how the sidewalk is used:

• Outdoor chairs on private property need their own separate outdoor permit, which was explained during the presentation to the commission.
• A bench in the public right-of-way goes through Public Works. According to Community Development Director Shaun Temple, Public Works won't issue a permanent encroachment permit, so a temporary bench is renewed every year.
• Chair Margo Wheeler added a condition requiring 8 feet of clearance between any outdoor bench and the tables.

As of the Sun's August update, there was still no opening date. The approval process wasn't the holdup. At an August 13 Chamber Networking Breakfast, District Two Councilman Ben Wong said the owner made it through planning permitting in six weeks.

The Committee and the Concierge Behind That Six Weeks

Wong gave the credit to Management Analyst Jennifer Robles, whom the city calls its business concierge. Her role is part of a program the city has been building since late 2025.

The Sun's December 18, 2025 story on the Business First initiative described the plan: one-on-one help for existing businesses, staff help for incoming businesses choosing a location and developing a site, and a proposed business resource guide. An advisory committee followed, created specifically to focus on Main Street. City Council ratified its appointments on March 23, 2026. The committee has five community members along with Councilmembers Joe Kalmick and Ben Wong, as the Sun reported.

Wong isn't Main Street's councilmember. At the August breakfast he said he noticed the vacancies after joining the council anyway, and added, "we're still all Seal Beach, right?"

The committee also has a bigger to-do list. The Sun reported that the city's Main Street Vision Plan proposals include more lighting, new trees, benches, intersection art and parking changes. At the time of that report, the committee had not yet sent those proposals to City Council.

Where Each Pending Space Stands

Everything below was still pending as of the latest public updates. None of these spaces had an announced opening date.

1. 137 Main, former Old Town Café. Chaupain Bakery is the incoming tenant. In a July email, Shaun Temple confirmed that the bakery was replacing Old Town Café, and the company's logo was already on display during the remodel, the Sun noted in August. Patch reported on August 31 that signs outside the shop give a late 2026 opening. On September 30, Chaupain's locations page still listed Seal Beach as coming soon.
2. The former Christian Science Reading Room. This is the approved Belgian waffle and ice cream shop described above. No trade name has been announced.
3. The former Bank of America building. The Coastal Commission approved changing the building from bank use to restaurant use in October 2025. By August, city and state permits had been issued and a demolition crew was working on the site. No restaurant or operator had been named.
4. The former Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Wong said city staff, including Robles and Temple, tracked down the building's owners, who want a long-term tenant. The city suggested a bagel shop.

Chaupain's own announcement, shared on Instagram and quoted by Patch, gives a reason for the move that's personal to its founders, the husband-and-wife team Sarah and Sami Ellouze:

"Seal Beach holds a special place in Sarah's heart, with memories dating back to her childhood, making this opportunity especially meaningful."

Look at the list again with the permits in mind. The waffle shop needed a local minor use permit, and that took six weeks. The bank needed a Coastal Commission decision on changing the building's use, followed by city and state permits, before demolition could start. The Coffee Bean corner doesn't even have a tenant to file anything yet, so the city's first step there was finding the owners. All three are moving through the same pipeline from different starting points.

The Street Gets Its Busiest Weeks Before Most of These Open

None of the pending spaces has a confirmed opening date, so the next two months on Main Street will happen around the construction. Here's the calendar:

Trick or Treat on Main Street is tomorrow, Friday, October 30, according to the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce calendar, and the city's Trunk or Treat follows on Saturday. Both put families on the blocks where the remodels are happening. The Lions Club parade on December 4 runs the full length of Main Street from the pier to Pacific Coast Highway. It starts near the 100 block, where Chaupain is remodeling, and finishes at the Main and PCH corner where the old Coffee Bean space is still looking for a tenant.

Of the four pending spaces, only the bakery has said when it expects to open, and that's still just "late 2026" on a sign in the window. The waffle shop already has its approval, the bank is in demolition, and the corner at PCH is waiting for a tenant. Seal Beach now has a councilman, a committee and a staff concierge tracking each of them, and the Sun's Main Street coverage is where any updates will show up first.

The six-week waffle shop approval and the bank's longer path through the Coastal Commission work much the same way for homes. Before you remodel, add an ADU or get a house ready to sell near Main Street, it helps to know which approvals your project needs and how long each one takes. Perry Handy is a licensed broker and general contractor who handles that permit planning from the first walkthrough. Schedule your free home valuation and renovation consultation.