Circuit City to occupy former US Bank location
Plans for one of the largest electronic retailers in the country to open a store in downtown Santa Monica won’t get much public scrutiny.
That’s because Circuit City is taking the 30,000-square-foot space at Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue, which used to be a branch office for US Bank. According to city zoning codes, a large retail store is the same type of use as a bank so there’s no need for the new tenant to be heavily scrutinized by City Hall.
Circuit City’s $21 million deal and 20-year lease was news to some public officials last week who were surprised to learn the large retailer would be moving in downtown.
Some residents wonder how a large retailer such as Circuit City, which will generate a fair amount of traffic downtown, can slip in under the public review radar when other stores like Target and Trader Joe’s went through heavy review and were ultimately shot down because of their impacts to their surroundings.
“It’s a little different because a bank was there,” Councilman Ken Genser said. “It’s a different kind of animal because of the zoning.”
Large retail stores often have to go through a rigorous public approval process to address concerns of traffic and impacts on local neighborhoods, but because it’s not a new building or a change in use, Circuit City has received tentative administrative approval in City Hall.
453,“It doesn’t trigger any discretionary review,” said Suzanne Frick, director of the city’s planning department. “It’s going from a bank to retail.”
The Target proposal, which would have been downtown, included a 100,000-square-foot store in a new building.
“That alone is the difference,” said Mayor Richard Bloom.
New parking restrictions won’t apply to Circuit City since it will be part of a plan in which downtown businesses pay into a fund so their customers can use the parking garages.
“We can point to places like Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn and other establishments on the Promenade that were retail before and they went to the same type of use,” Frick said.
The building will be renovated in the next few months, although Circuit City officials aren’t sure when the store will open.
“We do have a lease for a store at that location and we are in the process of applying for the city approvals,” said Jim Babb, a company spokesman. “We are interested in opening a store near the Promenade because that’s a very attractive area.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 13, 2003. Read the original PDF.