> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Council meets to discuss landbuys - URL: https://www.smdp.com/council-meets-to-discuss-landbuys/ - Published: 2005-05-10T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T07:00:04.000Z - Author: Ryan Hyatt - Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import *City is keeping an eye on available properties* DOWNTOWN — City Hall may be interested in purchasing millions of dollars worth of real estate in the downtown area — properties which could be used to help alleviate the parking crunch. Santa Monica City Council members recently met behind closed doors to discuss the status of 13 properties in the downtown area that may potentially be used to expand parking space, sources said. If so, the acquisitions could help City Hall achieve its goal of adding 2,000 more spaces downtown within the next decade. The sites are mostly located on the 1300 block of Fourth Street between Santa Monica Boulevard and Arizona Avenue, and the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Fifth Street between Broadway and Arizona Avenue. They include the temporary site of the Santa Monica Library, a parking structure site, and several smaller properties currently being used for retail and offices. Also of note, City Hall is looking into purchasing the old Toys ’R’ Us building on the southeast corner of Fourth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard. Officials who attended the April 26 closed session said securing properties for City Hall’s parking plan was a major component driving the real estate search. The downtown parking plan was signed off by the City Council in 2002 after nearly a year of research and discussion by a task force specifically created to address the shortage of downtown parking. A consultant was hired for $150,000 to help the task force find potential parking places and figure out how to finance them. The plan would add 1,712 new parking spaces between Fifth Street and the Third Street Promenade. City Hall has already embarked on the rebuilding and retro-fitting of some existing parking garages, which will create a total of 2,931 spaces. The new spaces will come from rebuilding and adding to three garages — which will produce 712 slots — and another 1,000 by constructing two new structures near Fifth Street. Those structures will have street-level retail and be used by monthly parkers so short-term visitors can park closer to the Promenade. It’s estimated that the additions will cost about $92.5 million, which would be self-financed through revenue bonds paid for by increasing parking fees and downtown property assessments. The costs will most likely be passed on to drivers, as well as developers and business owners who operate in the downtown area. Monthly parking rates in the garages are expected to be increased from $75 a month to $105, and short-term rates would increase to $1.25 every 20 minutes after the first two free hours, with a maximum of $10 for the day. The current maximum is $7. The task force reasoned that property owners would benefit from the additional spaces and, therefore, should help finance them. New commercial development downtown already pays into a shared parking fund and is not required to provide separate parking. The downtown area has seen about 50,000 square feet of growth per year over the past eight years. As far as the assessments are concerned, the task force considered tacking on an extra 50 cents per square foot to existing properties and expanding the assessment district to include an additional 1.9 million square feet in commercial space. That district would include north of Wilshire Boulevard, the east side of Sixth Street, the north side of Colorado Avenue and the east side of Ocean Avenue. Jeff Mathieu, director of City Hall’s resource management department, said in addition to securing possible parking sites, the city also frequently looks at real estate in order to help improve easements, infrastructure and affordable housing. Mathieu said people in the real estate community frequently contact him to let him know sites are available for purchase. If it seems City Hall may have some use for the sites, they are discussed in closed session. If the City Council discloses it is interested in acquiring one of the sites, city staff will then look further into the properties. “There’s always a trade-off for which properties are going to be superior, and we’re not going to purchase a whole swap with an unintended purpose,” Mathieu said. “We don’t buy a site unless we have some use already intended for it.” Mathieu said there was no particular real estate purchasing budget City Hall operates on, but that purchases were driven by need. He said one way to secure funds for real estate investment, if the funds were not immediately available, was by raising bonds. Mathieu did not say which of the 13 sites City Hall may pursue buying. He said the properties were listed on the agenda because the law requires the city provide some public disclosure whenever a property is on the table for discussion. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 10, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051005.pdf?ref=smdp.com)