New retailers, restaurants to open on Promenade
An ongoing battle between business owners and City Hall over how to regulate business here apparently hasn’t dampened market forces.
More than a dozen new retail outlets, restaurants and other merchants are expected to open in downtown Santa Monica this summer, which will fuel the Third Street Promenade and its more dormant side streets with new life, officials hope.
Meanwhile, progress reportedly has been made on two historic downtown properties that have stood vacant for years.
Owners of the Crocker Bank Building on Santa Monica Boulevard are considering turning their high-rise tower into a boutique hotel, with a restaurant on the ground level, officials said. The signature clock tower building recently underwent an extensive makeover and had been slated for office space.
In a separate development, local property owner Carl Schober was said to be exploring an agreement that likely would preserve the facade of the old Mayfair Theatre, also on Santa Monica Boulevard. Any further progress is expected to follow completion of a mixed-use development on Fourth Street also owned by Schober.
Rob York, a business consultant who regularly reports to City Hall, said a number of questions surround both possible developments, but meaningful progress was being made. As to the hotel, York said it might be attractive to switch from office space to a hotel use, partially because there’s no parking at the 1929 art-deco building.
“They kind of need to decide what direction they want to go with now,” said York, who’s tracked downtown businesses for 14 years. “I think a hotel is an interesting use. It brings a lot of fresh people to the area, and it would help support some other businesses.”
In the shorter term, York is hoping an influx of new restaurants, retailers and other merchants will draw more shoppers downtown — especially on Second, Fourth and the other streets that surround the Promenade. Rents on those side streets are typically half, or less, the $7 to $11 per square foot charged on the Promenade.
The idea is to fill in side streets and make downtown one solid block of shops and restaurants at the ground level, with residential apartments and office space above. But before merchants can thrive fully on the side streets, several dead spots need to be filled in and the streets need to be better lit, officials said.
Still, several new merchants plan to test the water.
On Second Street, a travel agent plans to move into the ground floor of the Community Corp. building, and a 30,000-square-foot Equinox Fitness Center is planned at Second Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, York said. Additionally, Santa Monica Power Yoga will open soon at Broadway and Second Street, said Maria Fotopoulos of the Bayside District Corp., a nonprofit group that runs downtown.
Fourth Street also is busy. The Wasteland, a clothing store, will soon open on the 1300 block, and a high-end furniture store is expected to take the dominant retail space when Schober’s new development opens. And Leonidas Chocolate Café, from Belgium, plans to open soon at Fourth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, Fotopoulos said.
On the east-west streets, officials said Angelato Cafe, a gourmet Italian ice cream store, will open this summer, as will Le Pain Quotidien, a bakery and sandwich shop set to open soon in the old Dee’s Diner building on Santa Monica Boulevard. Polly’s Pies on Wilshire Boulevard, which closed earlier this year, is expected to reopen as a Panera Bread cafe, though details still need to be hammered out. A restaurant called Kai will open soon at 101 Broadway, officials added.
Then there’s the Promenade, an economic powerhouse that last year generated $2.3 million for City Hall in sales tax revenue alone. City Hall keeps less than one-eighth of total sales tax revenue, with the rest going to other government coffers.
In the next few months, the Promenade will see three new restaurants — an Italian sandwich shop in the kiosk near Santa Monica Boulevard, a Barney’s Beanery just north of Santa Monica Boulevard and a Crepe Cafe on Broadway across from Santa Monica Place. Sharing the former Broadway Bar & Grill space with the Crepe Cafe will be specialty retailer Papyrus, which sells high-grade paper products, greeting cards, journals and other gift items, Fotopoulos said.
As for clothing stores, a Quicksilver Boardriders Club is scheduled to open this summer on the Promenade’s 1400 block, as is designer Skinny Minnie. Zara, a European clothing retailer, plans to open in the 1300 block. Another clothing store is in negotiations to take the space left vacant by bookstore Hennessey + Ingalls, York said.
Although businesses continue to choose downtown as a place to set up shop, officials at City Hall are struggling with two sets of laws — one that aims to control large chains from moving to the Promenade, the other that hopes to encourage new restaurants.
City Councilman Herb Katz said controlling the mix of merchants on the Promenade is an ongoing task that requires close attention from elected leaders.
“We’re going to go back and forth throughout the years,” Katz said. “You don’t want an imbalance. Don’t ask me exactly what the balance is. You don’t want too many restaurants, and you don’t want too many formula businesses. On the other hand, you need the formula business, because that’s where you get the money.”
Herb Katz
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.