As sales fall, SM Place sets out to mimic the Third Street Promenade
The fortress at the end of the Third Street Promenade is letting down its drawbridge.
Santa Monica Place plans to tear down the glass wall on its Broadway entrance and move its food court to the third floor as the first step in a long-term plan to turn itself into an outward-facing mall, said Henry Lichtman, a property manager for Macerich Company, which owns the mall.
When the mall was built in 1980, enclosed malls were popping up all over the nation and interest in outdoor malls was slumping.
But since the Promenade’s massive 1989 makeover, sales at Santa Monica Place have fallen behind its popular outdoor neighbor.
Last year, shops and restaurants along the Promenade grossed more than $200 million in sales, while Santa Monica Place took in $120 million, according to tax figures from the city. The Santa Monica Place figure is down 11 percent from 2001, while the Promenade sales grew by 2 percent during the same period.
The changes are an intermediate step in a 10- or 15-year plan for changing Santa Monica Place, Lichtman said. Construction, which Lichtman said will begin as soon as plans are approved, is expected to take more than a year.
846,“It is a significant investment,” said Lichtman, adding that the exact cost of the project is unknown.
Lichtman stressed that the plans are certain to change after the company takes input from the community and determines which vendors will have space in the refurbished mall.
“The one thing I know is that these plans we’re talking about today will be tweaked,” he said.
The goal is to create a seamless flow from the Promenade to the indoor mall, Lichtman said. Some storefronts will be weatherproofed if the current plan goes through and the climate will be regulated with “air curtains” that divide the outdoors from the heart of the mall, he said.
The exterior of the mall’s parking decks and department stores will be wrapped in the facade of individual buildings and the interior of the mall will likely be refurbished, Lichtman said.
The food court on the mall’s top level will take advantage of panoramic ocean views and feature outdoor seating, he said.
“This is a niche we think we can do well with,” said Lichtman, adding that affordable food downtown is increasingly scarce.
Macerich bought the mall in 1991. The company operates 56 malls and 21 community centers nationwide.
“Our goal at Macerich is to have our shopping centers or malls be the town center,” Lichtman said.
City officials said they are pleased by the changes and that they haven’t given up on including the indoor mall in the proposed Civic Redevelopment Plan.
The estimated $121 million redevelopment plan, which is on hold because of the city’s budget crisis, includes parks and an opportunity for the Promenade, Santa Monica Place and Main Street to be connected in a pedestrian environment.
“We’re going to get the cash someday,” said Councilman Herb Katz. “If they design the right master plan, it could come to fruition.”
Lichtman said the proposed changes to Santa Monica Place don’t preclude the mall from a future partnership with the city. The two groups seem to have the same goals in mind, he said, pointing to the mall’s interest in opening up the Colorado Avenue entrance, the second heaviest access point to the mall.
Kathleen Rawson, executive director for Bayside Corporation, the non-profit that runs downtown with the city, applauded the mall’s proposed changes.
“They need to inject a little momentum into that mall and get the bodies walking through there,” she said. “Their success is our success.”
- Kathleen Rawson, executive director, Bayside
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 25, 2003. Read the original PDF.