Sherman Library & Gardens Renovation in Corona del Mar: What's Open

Drive east on Pacific Coast Highway through the Village and the construction fencing around Sherman Library & Gardens looks like a closed sign. It isn't. The 2.2-acre garden at 2647 E. Coast Highway is in the middle of an 18-month, $17 million rebuild, and the assumption that "under construction" means "come back in 2027" gets the story wrong. The garden is open most days. The entrance just isn't where it used to be, the restaurant isn't where it's going to be yet, and there is one night this fall, October 3, when the gardens open for a ticketed evening inside the construction site.

The Entrance Moved to Dahlia Avenue

If you've tried to find your way in recently and hit a dead end at the usual gate, that's expected. Sherman Library & Gardens has relocated its entrance to Dahlia Avenue for the duration of the project, with signage directing visitors around the block. Large sections of the grounds are fenced off while the reimagining moves forward, and the organization has been upfront that construction noise comes with the territory during a visit right now.

This isn't cosmetic. It's the first physical sign of a much bigger change: when construction wraps, the main entrance won't return to its old spot at all. It's moving permanently to Pacific Coast Highway, anchored by a new Julia Argyros Bell Tower that will greet visitors directly from the street instead of tucking the garden's front door around a corner the way it has for sixty years.

What the $17 Million Actually Buys

The groundbreaking happened on February 26, 2026, timed to the minute at 2:26 p.m. to mark the garden's 60th anniversary. Sherman Library & Gardens was founded in 1966 by Arnold Haskell and named for his mentor Moses Hazeltine Sherman, and the property was last remodeled in 1970. The current project, branded "Grow the Gardens," is described by the organization as the most significant remodel in its history, and Newport Beach's own city council has formally recognized the garden as the "Cultural Hub" of Corona del Mar.

The plan isn't just a new gate. Past the Bell Tower entrance, visitors will walk into the Kewell-Jacoby Sun Garden, then the Samueli Central Garden Walk beneath the property's landmark Bodhi tree, with the Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom Conservatory close by. The tropical conservatory and shade house, both used heavily in the garden's education programs, are being renovated specifically to protect the orchid collection and other plants that depend on them. The restaurant that used to sit inside the garden's interior is relocating to Pacific Coast Highway frontage, which frees up the central garden to be used primarily for the education programming that the organization describes as the backbone of its mission.

Tim Collins, chairman of the building committee, put the intent behind the redesign this way:

"It was important for us to employ smart and sensitive design that honored the charm and character for the future of the Corona del Mar Village."

Construction is expected to run 18 months and finish in late summer 2027.

The Sunday You'll Want to Route Around

Most days, the garden is still accessible through the Dahlia Avenue entrance. It has already closed fully to the public once this fall, on September 13, and it's set to do the same again on Sunday, October 18, with normal access resuming the following day. If a weekend walk through the Village usually loops past the garden, October 18 is the date to route around.

There's a second closure worth knowing about, and it's not about maintenance. The gardens are closed to regular public admission from Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, and that one is because of what's happening on the property, not what's happening to it.

The Night Past the Fence

That pause in regular public admission makes room for the 2nd Annual Botanical Ball, the garden's flagship fundraiser, held this year on Saturday, October 3 from 6 to 10 p.m. Individual tickets run $375 with open seating throughout the grounds, and the evening runs on a fixed clock: champagne and garden strolls at 6, a live auction at 7:30, then a DJ and dancing until the event wraps at 10. The appetizers that night come from what the organization is calling its "new restaurateur," which is the closest public preview so far of the farm-to-table concept slated to eventually anchor the rebuilt PCH-facing restaurant.

Proceeds from the evening support the garden's education programs. The garden also has a history of opening its grounds to neighbors for a more casual evening. Its sixth Corona del Mar Meet & Greet, held with the CDM Residents Association and the CDM Chamber of Commerce, took place on Sunday, October 13, 2024, with all profits going to Sherman Library & Gardens. A 2026 edition has not turned up in the garden's public calendar, so the garden's events page is the place to check for anything added later.

Where Lunch Went

Anyone who used to plan a garden visit around lunch or afternoon tea will notice the biggest gap right now. Regular dining service is not currently available on-site. In its place, the garden has scheduled several Hazeltine's Afternoon Tea experiences through 2026, reservation-based events rather than a walk-in cafe. Full dining service won't return until the new farm-to-table restaurant partner opens on the Pacific Coast Highway side of the property in fall 2027, alongside the rest of the reimagined garden.

That timeline lines up with the broader construction schedule. The Bell Tower entrance, the Sun Garden, the Central Garden Walk, the Conservatory renovation and the relocated restaurant are all part of the same 18-month build that started in February 2026 and is targeted to wrap in late summer 2027, which puts the restaurant's opening roughly in step with the rest of the reveal.

What This Actually Changes About Walking Past the Fence

The fencing along Pacific Coast Highway isn't a pause button. It's the visible edge of a sixty-year-old institution rebuilding its front door, its central walkway and its dining space all at once, while keeping the garden itself open to the public through a side entrance most of the year. The Botanical Ball on October 3 is the one point this fall where the construction site itself becomes the destination rather than the obstacle.

For a Village landmark that's been quietly in the background of daily life in Corona del Mar for six decades, that's a meaningful shift, even if it's a temporary one. The garden you'll walk into in 2027 enters from a different street, serves food in a different spot and organizes its central space around education instead of dining. The garden you can walk into this week still exists. It's just reached through Dahlia Avenue, and October 18 is the next full Sunday closure worth planning around.

Connie Maxsenti has spent decades watching the Village change one project at a time, and she's always glad to talk through what a landmark like Sherman Gardens means for the neighborhood around it. Let's Connect — Schedule Your Free Consultation.