Local business owners buy historic cottage
When John Heidt first stepped into his future home, a dilapidated cottage that had just jumped through hurdles to remain intact, he was greeted with a nauseating sight, one that would give most homeowners second thoughts.
Before him was a network of cobwebs, hanging over what seemed like hundreds of dead flies, all concentrated in a century-old beach-facing house plagued by a series of problems, its foundation sloping and exterior encrusted in chipped yellow paint.
“I was wondering why there were so many dead flies and cobwebs in the house,” Heidt, who purchased the famous cottage at 2219 Ocean Ave. in April, said.
The answer would be found in the basement where the carcass of a possum lay, its removal the first in a long effort to rehabilitate a cottage that sat at the center of controversy last year when its previous owner set out to demolish the aging structure.
Heidt and his wife Donna, who both currently live in Westwood, purchased the property for an unspecified amount just shortly after the City Council in February reaffirmed its landmark status, the historic home known as the last beach-facing cottage in Santa Monica.
The president of Heidt Torres Co., a commercial real estate development company on Wilshire Boulevard, first noticed the home in 2006 after a surfing excursion, the start of a love affair with the cottage that led him to make a bid, only to be told by the realtor that his offer was falling short of the estimated $3.3 million value.
The home sits on a block zoned for multi-family housing, grandfathered in as the only single-family property in the neighborhood. The realtor told Heidt that the home could be demolished and replaced with four dwelling units, something that Heidt said he had no interest in pursuing.
746,“I said (to the realtor) that my sense is the people in Santa Monica are smart enough to know this is a jewel,” Heidt said.
The couple continued to keep their eye on the property as it underwent a more than year-long tug-of-war between the previous owner — the University of Illinois Foundation — and residents, who sought to preserve the early 20th century cottage. Meanwhile another interested party had made an offer on the house.
Shortly after the City Council held a re-hearing on the owner’s appeal to the cottage’s landmark status, a designation ultimately upheld, the Heidts made a counteroffer.
A beach-facing home was something that Heidt had always dreamed of owning, growing up in the seaside community of San Clemente, making his own skimboards, surfboards and eventually, catamarans.
“I love the ocean,” Heidt said. “Being in real estate, a house in bad shape didn’t scare me.”
The couple spent more than a month cleaning out the cottage and refurbishing it, refinishing the hardwood floors and giving both the interior and exterior a new paint job. While the house is markedly in better condition, the Heidts say there is still more work to be done.
That work includes fixing a slumping foundation and replacing the front steps.
“We are cleaning and cleaning and still cleaning,” Donna Heidt said. “We are trying to save the cottage.”
The cottage’s history still speaks today, from the pulley window to the stained glass illustration that hangs above the fireplace, depicting the Santa Monica Bay at sunset.
“We’re on a mission to save the cottage and that’s what we did,” Donna Heidt said.
The couple’s purchase came as good news to neighbors who had lobbied to preserve the cottage after the University of Illinois Foundation, the college’s fundraising arm, filed for a demolition permit in 2006, spurring “Save the Cottage” efforts.
79E,“This is exactly what we were hoping for — a family who would make the cottage a home again while preserving its place in Santa Monica history,” Erin Maynes, one of the founders of “Save the Cottage,” said.
The building was deeded to the university following former owner William Hobson’s death in 2005, among the many things that the late Santa Monican donated to institutions of higher learning, including a $1.5 million gift to UCLA.
The Landmarks Commission designated the cottage as a historic home in August 2006, a status that was subsequently appealed by the university. The council heard the appeal last summer despite objections from several councilmembers and the university that the matter should be postponed because there were only five councilmembers present. When one councilmember abstained and another left the meeting in objection, the appeal lacked a quorum and the landmark status was upheld by default.
Facing the threat of a lawsuit by the university, the council held another hearing in February.
The foundation reportedly had a difficult time selling the cottage before the historic designation because potential buyers were uncertain as to whether the home would be landmarked and whether such a status would prevent them from remodeling or demolishing the home in the future.
The more than 1,500 square foot home was at one point listed on the market for $3.3 million. That value slumped about 50 percent following the landmark designation, according to Brad Hatfield, the senior vice president for administration with the foundation.
“It was because of the decision that it was worth substantially less than we think it would’ve been,” Hatfield said. “It lost significant dollars that would’ve been used for scholarships.”
Jump hedline: Santa Monica business owners buy historic cottage
Suggested pullquote: “We’re on a mission to save the cottage and that’s what we did.”
Donna Heidt
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Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 4, 2008. Read the original PDF.