Apartment complex could be replaced by condominiums
OCEAN AVENUE A 56-year-old courtyard-style apartment on the northern end of the city, a locale known for its views of the Pacific Ocean and tranquility, could soon be transformed into condominiums, concerning long-time rent-controlled residents about finding an affordable place to live.
Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. acquired the 47-unit apartment complex situated on the corner of San Vicente Boulevard and Ocean Avenue last summer and is planning to erect a 26-unit condominium project in its place.
The project is still in its initial conceptual phases and the company has yet to file for any building or demolition permit applications, according to Greg Ames, the senior vice president and a Santa Monica resident overseeing the project, who estimates applications could be filed in the next two months with construction beginning in summer 2009.
The development could consist of a mix of three-level townhouses, duplexes, penthouses and affordable housing units. Neither an estimated square footage nor a construction cost has been calculated.
“With both coastal and mountain views, Ocean Avenue is destination real estate and home to a number of top quality high-rise and mid-rise multifamily properties,” Ames said on Monday. “Redevelopment of this site into an environmentally friendly, luxury condominium building complemented with on-site affordable units, all designed by a world class architect, will be an excellent addition to the Ocean Avenue landscape fronting Palisades Park.
The proposal has concerned some residents about the impact on the long-time tenants whose low rents are protected under rent control.
“Most of them are elderly people who have lived here more than 20 years and unfortunately, there is no plan for what to do next,” said Djamal Kord, an acupunc-turist who moved into the building about 10 years ago. Kord chose to live at the apartment because of its proximity to an acupuncture school in downtown Santa Monica that he attended at the time. The apartment is also close to his acupuncture office in the downtown area, where he commutes to everyday by walking or biking.
“We are at an age where we can do something about our situation,” Kord said. “But others don’t have that kind of help and sometimes when they have to go somewhere, we have to (drive) them.”
The company has offered move-out agreements with existing tenants and would like to reach a voluntary agreement with each tenant rather than file Ellis Act eviction notices, Ames said. If the company does decide to go through the Ellis process, it will file an application within the next two months, Ames estimated.
“It is important for us to respect the rights of the tenants in the building and we are working hard to minimize the effects of this disruption to the greatest extent possible,” Ames said.
While a rendering was not available by press time on Monday, many tenants that have seen the designs call it “modernist,” some feeling it would be out of sync with the overall landscape of the Ocean Avenue corridor.
Jagdish Taylor, who has lived in a second-floor unit with her husband for 16 years, said she is concerned with the changing face of Ocean Avenue, once a street packed with multi-family complexes, now interspersed with high-rises.
“We’re concerned with what’s happening to Santa Monica,” Taylor said. “We’re going to end up looking like Redondo Beach.”
Taylor said she and her husband, Titus Wapato, have received a move-out agreement of $14,000 and are currently mulling it over, though they seem inclined to reject the offer.
“Santa Monica is one of the few places that do not look like Miami Beach,” Wapato said. “A glass concrete monolith on this corner will disrupt the flow (of mainly multi-family houses).”
The design of the proposed condominiums, which will include environmentally friendly elements, will be inspired by the architecture of similar buildings along Ocean Avenue, Ames said. The building should also stay within the scale of the surrounding complexes, he added.
Some residents seem less aggravated by the development.
Juliet Mittlemann has lived in the building for three years and in the same unit for the past six months and said she has mostly been in the dark about the proposed project, just hearing rumors from her neighbors about when they have to move out or when the project will break ground.
“Moving period is an inconvenience,” Mittlemann said. “It’s not like I’m being uprooted from my life.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 5, 2008. Read the original PDF.