Any good relationship often means that one side must be willing to admit that they were wrong. And so it goes between the owners of Santa Monica Place — Macerich Co. — and the community at-large.
Macerich representatives publicly apologized earlier this week for their proposal of two years ago, which advocated erecting three separate 21-story skyscrapers in downtown Santa Monica. The proposal — which shocked many residents — was part of a massive redevelopment plan aimed at rethinking the economically faltering and aging mall, thrusting it into the new world of “shopping villages.”
The City Council voted against the proposal on the basis that it wasn’t in step with Santa Monica’s small-town atmosphere and would create even more traffic in a congested downtown. The denial sent Macerich back to the drawing board, weighing its options ever since.
Now, the company is ready to start anew and is opting for a more modest remodel of the Frank Gehry designed mall, which was built in the 1980s. The plan will likely include opening up the ground floor — extending the popular Third Street Promenade outdoor mall — and moving the food court to a third-floor patio so people can enjoy ocean views while they eat.
We hope there’s more to it than that, but only time will tell what mall developers have up their sleeves. One thing is for certain: They won’t make the same mistake again. This time, Macerich officials say they will actually listen to what community members want. A series of meetings were held during the last proposal, when people were given building blocks to play with so as to feel as if they were part of a design process. Residents were loud and clear in expressing their views that they wanted a development that didn’t compromise the atmosphere of downtown. Translation: They wanted something small.
Still, mall designers were thinking big and it came back to bite them in the compass. They plan to hold another series of community meetings in the next 60 days to, again, see what residents want. The first thing Macerich representatives ought to do is go back through their notes and see what was said during the first round of community discussions.
Time is of the essence here for both the community’s vitality and Macerich’s bottom line. The mall, which has now been vacated by retailer Robinsons-May, is losing tenants and customers. Because of its enormous size, boxy design and its parking structures on either side, it shuts people off from the Santa Monica Pier and serves as a dead end to the rest of the downtown area.
We believe that extending the Promenade through the mall to Colorado Avenue, and having the pedestrian experience continue through a planned redesign of the Civic Center area and onto Main Street will be the highlight of a newly vibrant downtown Santa Monica. It would be uniquely Santa Monican for residents and visitors alike to be able to walk through a commercial and civic corridor from Wilshire Boulevard to the southern city limits.
Traffic is a concern, and likely always will be, as more development attracts more people. Redevelopment will attract more people too because whatever is built will hopefully revitalize an underutilized area of downtown.
The reality is that a successful downtown means there will be traffic. And that’s a reality that we need to live with and plan for accordingly. It’s not a matter of how to stop traffic from coming into the city; it’s a matter of creating a flow to ease the congestion better.
There are real opportunities here to make Santa Monica an even stronger destination for shoppers, tourists and visitors. And with city officials currently revamping Santa Monica’s general plan, which will dictate how development will occur over the next two decades, it is absolutely imperative that a planning director at City Hall is hired as soon as possible. The position has been vacant for more than a year. We need someone with vision, a planner who has experience in overseeing downtown areas that have reinvented themselves into pedestrian-friendly environments that include public spaces, housing and commercial districts.
Our caveat to residents is that we hope their desires to keep Santa Monica’s essence intact does not impede the planning process. Change is good, inevitable and sorely needed. Residents need to compromise in the same vein that Macerich Co. has promised to do. Concerned residents need to understand that they, too, must compromise for progress — not compromise progress.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 9, 2006. Read the original PDF.