Tall and short of it
By Daily Press staff
CITY AT LARGE — Over the next four years, elected leaders will be largely responsible for shaping how Santa Monica will be developed in the next two decades.
Not only will the City Council approve a citywide development plan that will dictate what kind of building will occur in the next 20 years, but several large-scale proposals already are in the works for downtown Santa Monica.
Macerich Co., which owns Santa Monica Place, is considering building skyscraper-style apartment and retail buildings at the south end of the Promenade. The concept is to create an open-aired mall on the ground floor that would extend the Third Street Promenade through to Colorado Avenue. That would then connect to a planned multi-million dollar Civic Center that includes tall apartment buildings, open space, public amenities and a future light rail station. The entire development would be designed to allow pedestrians to walk from Wilshire Boulevard to Main Street. Because City Hall owns part of the property where the mall sits, officials are considering a joint powers agreement with Macerich. Representatives from Macerich have met with several City Council candidates and council members individually to show them preliminary plans.
In addition, a new hotel at the Fairmont Miramar has been discussed for the past year and a half. Preliminary renderings show it to be a high-rise tower that will exceed any other downtown building, with the exception of the 100 Wilshire structure.
There also has been discussions amongst city officials to revamp the movie theaters on the Promenade, and possibly even move them elsewhere downtown.
In light of these plans, development has been a key issue for City Council candidates.
On pages 8 and 9, those seeking four open seats on the council have answered this question: “Santa Monica is nearly built-out, and developers are pushing to rebuild and build up. How high should the buildings in Santa Monica be and what should the downtown district look like? Please address profits to the city’s tax base related to future development.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.