Dana Point / Coastal Orange County
Monarch Bay Plaza at Pacific Coast Highway and Crown Valley Parkway is the one place in Dana Point where a licensed school was confirmed inside a shopping center: Monarch Bay Montessori Academy holds Suites 23 and 25 with a 90-child CDSS license. The other three centers the CDSS search returned are licensed to two churches and the school district, on Stonehill Drive, Calle La Primavera and La Cresta. Under Chapter 9.11 of the zoning code, day care centers are a permitted use in three of the four commercial districts.
Population
32,790
Median HHI
$141,520
Median age
47.4
Homeownership
62.4%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.
Primary retail corridors
Pacific Coast Highway · Del Prado Avenue · Crown Valley Parkway · Golden Lantern · Street of the Green Lantern
Specific shopping centers in Dana Point that already carry credible co-tenancy for this use. Listed in approximate order of fit.
Pacific Coast Highway at Crown Valley Parkway
Anchors / key tenants: Gelson's Market, CVS Pharmacy
PCH at Crown Valley — the premium daily-needs and dining node for the Monarch Beach/Ritz-Carlton trade area. Restaurant mix includes Ichibiri Japanese, LUA Asian Fusion, and Salt Creek Grille. Local boutiques (Coastal Accents, Meesh Boutique) anchor the lifestyle side.
Existing operators are the most honest comp for whether a use can support Dana Point rents. These are publicly visible daycare and education space businesses currently trading in the market.
Monarch Bay Montessori Academy
32920 Pacific Coast Highway, Suites 23 and 25, Dana Point, CA 92629
Listed in the Monarch Bay Plaza tenant directory and licensed by CDSS as a day care center with capacity 90, ages 2 to 5. The school's own site says it serves children from age 2.5 through upper elementary. This is the one licensed school in the city that was confirmed inside a shopping center.
St. Edward the Confessor Preschool
33866 Calle La Primavera, Dana Point, CA 92629
CDSS licensed day care center, capacity 66, licensee Diocese of Orange. The license records a waiver to share the playground with the private kindergarten.
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church Preschool
33501 Stonehill Drive, Dana Point, CA 92629
CDSS licensed day care center, capacity 54, ages 2 through 6, first licensed in 1986. Licensee is Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
Early Childhood Center (Capistrano USD)
24242 La Cresta, Dana Point, CA 92629
CDSS licensed day care center, capacity 24, ages 3 to 5, licensed to Capistrano Unified. The license notes a waiver to share the playground with elementary school children.
Peaceful Warrior Jiu Jitsu
Monarch Bay Plaza, Pacific Coast Highway at Crown Valley Parkway, Dana Point
Listed in the Monarch Bay Plaza directory. Not a licensed child care use, but it shows the center already leases to instruction-type tenants.
01
Dana Point Zoning Code 9.11.020(b) lists Day Care Centers as a permitted use (P) in the Neighborhood Commercial (NC), Community Commercial/Pedestrian (CC/P) and Community Commercial/Vehicular (CC/V) districts, and as a conditional use (C) in Visitor/Recreation Commercial (V/RC). Confirm the district for your parcel first, because that decides whether you need a hearing.
02
Educational Uses in the same table are P in CC/P and CC/V but C in NC and V/RC. Tutoring and enrichment studios are not listed by name, so ask planning staff whether they will classify a tutoring center as an Educational Use or something else in an NC center.
03
Parking under 9.35.080(e) for Day Care and Nursery Schools is 1 stall per 2 employees plus 1 stall per 5 children, based on facility capacity. A 90-child license needs 18 stalls for the children alone, plus one for every two employees, so check the center's parking count and any shared parking terms before you size the license.
04
Parcels in the Lantern District on Del Prado Avenue and at Dana Point Harbor may be governed by their own plans. The Chapter 9.11 table should not be assumed to apply there until the city confirms it.
05
Monarch Bay Montessori's 90-child license implies 6,750 sq ft of outdoor activity space at 75 sq ft per child. Ask any landlord where a fenced yard of that scale could go, and whether the lease gives you exclusive use of it.
06
State licensing sets the floor plan before the city does: Title 22 requires 35 sq ft of indoor activity space per child (22 CCR 101238.3), 75 sq ft of outdoor activity space per child enclosed by a fence at least four feet high (22 CCR 101238.2), and a fire clearance requested through CDSS (22 CCR 101171). Size the suite and the play yard against your target licensed capacity before you negotiate.
Zoning, licensing, and demographic figures on this page come from the public records below. Codes and licenses change, so confirm with the city and the licensing agency before you sign.