University Synagogue, Chabad Hope to Expand

Two Irvine synagogues are turning to congregants for money
to fund building expansions that are expected to break ground this spring.

Delayed by difficulty finding a lender, University Synagogue
hopes by May to start the year-long remodeling of a shuttered ice rink into a
1,500-seat sanctuary and six classrooms, said Dennis S. Klarin, a Newport Beach
accountant and president of the Reconstructionist congregation. Irvine’s
Commercial Capital Bancorp is expected to lend most construction financing,
while congregants will be asked to make up the remainder, he said.

University’s 570 families presently hold services and
religious school classes in rented space shared with a church, which uses the
facility on Sunday. “We don’t find that adequate,” Klarin said, as conflicts
for space often force congregation activities into homes and restaurants or
scheduling at inopportune times. But financial constraints will mean a further
delay of renovations to the rink’s upper floors, Klarin said.

In December, Chabad of Irvine also asked congregants to
contribute toward a $1 million expansion that would more than double its
existing 4,000-square-foot facility, which serves about 100 children. Plans
initially called for a 10-month building project beginning in April on adjacent
land, acquired for $1.5 million last June, Rabbi Alter Tenenbaum said.

But, he added, the developer has yet to finalize plans.