The City Council has approved a development agreement for a 1,000-square-foot digital display on the landmark Junipher Building at the corner of the Third Street Promenade and Santa Monica Boulevard, the eighth such screen approved downtown under the city's year-old digital display program.
The council voted 5-1 to introduce the ordinance for first reading, with Councilmember Lana Negrete opposed. Councilmember Ellis Raskin recused himself because his law firm, Hanson Bridgett, represents billboard operator Outfront Media. Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Zwick participated remotely.
Councilmembers also agreed to have staff explore amending the digital display ordinance so that if a building fails to meet occupancy requirements, the city could keep running its own art and civic content on the screen rather than shutting it off.
Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya raised the idea, saying "it probably is a lot better to have something playing rather than just have a blank screen."
The curved display, about 55 feet wide and 18 feet tall, would wrap the corner above the ground-floor storefronts of the 1912 building at 1355 Third Street Promenade, also known as 301 Santa Monica Blvd. The building was designated a city landmark in 2014 and has been vacant since 2020, when the Gap moved out. The agreement also approves a reconstructed blade sign modeled on one installed in 1936 for the Kress department store, to be used only for tenant identification.
Under the 30-year agreement, with two 10-year options, the applicant, XYZ Now LLC, would pay a one-time $500,000 community benefit and the greater of 20% of gross advertising revenue or a $500,000 minimum annual guarantee, escalating 3% a year. The minimum drops 3% when the district's 10th display goes live and another 3% for each display after that, to account for market saturation. The applicant would also pay $30,000 toward future Promenade improvements. The city gets 20% of screen time, about 12 minutes an hour, for city and art content.
The entire ground floor and at least 50% of the building's rentable floor area must be occupied. If that threshold is missed for more than 12 months, the minimum payment rises 25%, and the city could eventually shut off the display and terminate the agreement after five years.
The most contested element was the removal of two street trees on the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard, an 11-inch and a roughly 4-inch Chinese flame tree, which would block the view for eastbound drivers. The Urban Forest Commission recommended denial Sept. 9, saying it did not want healthy trees removed for digital displays or to set a precedent. The city's Public Landscape Division found the conflict unavoidable, and after the Planning Commission asked for more restitution, the applicant agreed to pay $23,000 to remove both trees, transplant the smaller one, plant shorter replacements and fill two additional empty tree wells downtown.
Negrete pressed staff on what happens if the screen goes dark, whether the display blocks upper-floor windows and whether the city should wait to see how the first displays perform. Two screens have been operating since Aug. 30. Hall asked what keeps the building from sitting in "a permanent state of renovation" under an exception for major remodeling; staff pointed to a 24-month limit.
Mayor Caroline Torosis said her own review of existing screens found little content about city events or history and asked whether the city plans to scale up. City Manager Oliver Chi said more city-specific programming will be added over the next several weeks.
Gabby Germezi, a development director with Orange Barrel Media, which represents the applicant, said the new owners want to bring tenants back to the long-vacant building. She said the display sits off the facade to preserve character-defining features and let light into upper floors, and that the tree plan would result in a net gain of six trees.
Explaining her no vote, Negrete said she supported the first displays but finds them less aesthetically pleasing in person. "Economic recovery and historic preservation shouldn't have to compete with each other," she said. "It feels a little bit like selling our soul and the soul of the promenade in a way." She said the screen could also limit future housing above the store.