With all the development approvals, former Pioneer Boulangerie Bakery listed for $27 million
Now that his Main Street residential and commercial complex has been given full approval to be built, developer Howard Jacobs has put the property up for sale.
Jacobs, who has been battling City Hall for nearly four years to get the project approved, has the entire block bounded between Neilson Way and Main Street, and Bay Street and Bicknell Avenue, as well as another parcel across the street, listed for $27 million.
Along with the price tag comes all the approvals and conditions given by the Santa Monica City Council to build the 170,000-square-foot, four-story, 133-unit housing and retail development.
Jacobs put the property up for sale in November, shortly after he received the last approval he needed from the state’s coastal commission.
Jacobs was unavailable for comment, but his real estate broker, Ron Harris, said in published reports that Jacobs is taking advantage of a strong real estate market and wants to maximize his investment. Harris also reportedly said Jacobs has had two parties express interest in purchasing the property.
Jacobs’ investment not only includes millions of dollars in plan preparations and the price of the property itself, but also hundreds of hours spent in the public review process.
Jacobs’ plans to redevelop the parcel where the former Pioneer Boulangerie Bakery used to be has gone through at least four major revamps in the past 3 1/2 years, when he first purchased the property. He has had every aspect of the property put under scrutiny — everything from the height and width of the buildings’ elevators to how the potted plants on the top floor will be watered, to the color of paint and kind of materials that will be used for the exterior.
Jacobs had envisioned the ground floor of the buildings’ retail space to have neighborhood-serving stores and apartments for rent upstairs.
But the public review process was only part of the delay. Jacobs said the planning department — known for its bureaucratic red tape and slowness — spent too long preparing a crucial document that reviews impacts to the neighborhood.
So Jacobs filed a lawsuit against the city in 2001 claiming it has cost him millions of dollars because it dragged its feet in completing the environmental impact review of the project. The report was completed several months after the supposed deadline.
Jacobs has said in the past that the delay has cost him nearly $3 million because he was sitting on land he had to pay for and the city delayed him his right to get a return on his investment in a timely manner. Jacobs has said he pays $115,000 a month for the mortgage, insurance and maintenance of the property.
The lawsuit is still pending and it’s unknown whether Jacobs will pursue it.
The planning commission first denied the project and instead of redoing the plans, Jacobs appealed the decision to the city council, which approved it unanimously in February of 2002 after Jacobs made substantial changes to the buildings’ facades.
But the architectural review board a few months later shot down the project, despite that Jacobs had made the changes based on recommendations by the council and city officials.
As a matter of process, Jacobs chose to appeal the decision to the planning commission instead of going back in front of the ARB with more changes. He said at the time that he didn’t feel he would get a fair review by the ARB. Jacobs believed the ARB’s review was out of its legal purview because the board critiqued more than just the building’s architecture.
As a matter of law, the planning commission was limited in its second review to only critique the project’s architectural design, landscaping and exterior aspects because it was acting as the ARB.
The commission reluctantly approved the project in September of 2002. The process put the planning commission in an awkward position because its members didn’t want the project in the first place. When they approved it last fall, commissioners described the development as a “box” they didn’t particularly like but had to decorate it as best they could.
The development will be the largest project Main Street has seen in years. Supporters of it say it will clean up a section of Main Street that has become blighted since the Pioneer Boulangerie Bakery was abandoned. But some neighbors say the development is too big, will ruin the character of the area and create too much traffic.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 1, 2003. Read the original PDF.