With a controversial plan for a Target store off the table, Santa Monica is reviewing plans for two apartment buildings at the site, at Fifth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.
David Forbes Hibbert, the local architect who designed the new proposal, said the one-time home of Henshey’s department store has been tabbed for projects of 52 and 57 rental units.
The development group behind the new plan is being led by Bill Hammerstein’s Three Coast Limited Partnership, which built the Arboretum Gateway office project at Cloverfield Boulevard and Colorado Avenue. The site is owned by an investment group led by Santa Monica attorney David Williams.
Hammerstein said the group, which paid $11.5 million for the property, wants to begin construction within six months. The project could be complete 14 months after groundbreaking.
The shift to residential use for the site should meet with the approval of the city council, which in February voted 5 to 2 against Target’s proposal to build a 125,000-square-foot store. Council members, who cited traffic worries, raised accusations of Westside snobbery in their opposition to the project.
The newly proposed projects can skirt involvement by the city because they fall below the 30,000-square-foot threshold that requires approval from the Planning Commission.
The 52-unit project will have nearly 4,000 square feet of retail and the 57-unit development will have nearly 5,000 square feet of retail. The investors reportedly will pay the city a fee in lieu of taxes to avoid reserving 30 percent of the developed units for low and moderate-income tenants.
Hibbert said the smaller of the proposed buildings should be presented to the Architectural Review Board any day. The other building is on track for approval sometime in 2002.
Landmark Changes
Independent and foreign films, missing as part of the cultural landscape in Westwood Village since the departure of Laemmle Theatres in 1981, will return in January when Landmark Theatre Corp. takes over the Mann Regent Theatre.
Bob Walsh, executive director of the Westwood Village Business Improvement District, said Landmark had inked a deal with Regent Properties Inc. to take over Mann Theatres lease at the 414-seat Broxton Avenue venue. Officials at Landmark, Mann and Regent did not return calls.
The Regent Theatre was built by Laemmle in 1966. Laemmle President Bob Laemmle said the venerable art house lost its lease in 1981 and was replaced by Mann. Laemmle said he had discussions with Regent Properties about the site, but nothing ever worked out.
Titanic trivia
It’s not the movie “Titanic,” but it could be just as big for Hollywood. TrizecHahn Development Corp.’s gargantuan mixed-use Hollywood & Highland project opened Nov. 9. Here are some of the construction facts demonstrating the scope of the complex.
– 3,400 pieces of precast concrete
– 7,750 tons of reinforcing steel
– 100,000 cubic yards of concrete
– 12,000 tons of structural steel
– 600,000 cubic yards of excavated dirt
– 20,000 gallons of paint
– 3.2 million square feet of drywall
– 25,000 square feet of terrazzo
– 170 miles of electrical conduit
Deals, Deals, Deals
B.U. Group, the investment vehicle of Vernon-based basket manufacturer and importer/exporter Fred Yazdinian, spent $5.3 million to buy the 54,275-square-foot shopping center at Leffingwell and Telegraph roads in La Mirada. The center is anchored by a 99 Cents Only Store and Goodwill Industries International Inc. thrift store. Nicholas Coo, a senior associate at Faris Lee Investments, represented B.U. Group in the deal. Coo and David Lee, president of Faris Lee, represented the seller, Shone/Maltzman Trust
Investor Ann Marie Meagher paid $4.1 million to buy the 8,475-square-foot building at 3700-3710 La Brea Blvd. in Los Angeles. The center is home to a Radio Shack Corp. store and a regional superintendent’s office for Los Angeles Unified School District. Dennis Vaccaro, a senior associate, and Jason Lind, an associate, both with Faris Lee, represented Meagher in the deal. Vaccaro and Jeff Conover, also a senior associate at Faris Lee, represented the seller, W.F. Hham LLC
EDCO USA LLC, an international telecommunications company with offices in Connecticut and a switching center in New York, signed a 15-year, 10,000-square-foot lease at 611 W. Sixth St. downtown. The deal is valued at $4.8 million. Warren Sorgen of Helmsley-Spear Inc. in New York represented EDCO in the negotiation. William Atha II and Timothy C. Macker Jr. and Joseph Faulkner of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented the landlord, 611 West Sixth Street Associates LLC
On the industrial front, San Francisco-based Fritz Companies Inc. signed a five-year, 62,538-square foot lease at 19901 S. Hamilton Ave. in Los Angeles in a $2.2 million deal. Fritz, purchased earlier this year by UPS Inc., will use the building for airfreight operations beginning in January. Bret Quinlan of Cushman & Wakefield represented Fritz in the deal. John Schumacher, senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented the landlord, Investment Development Services Inc
Quinlan also represented L.J. Express in negotiation of a 62-month, 20,263-square-foot lease at 5353 W. Imperial Highway in Los Angeles. Total consideration for the deal is $1.3 million. The freight delivery company will move into the space directly and make it its West Coast headquarters. Michael Daniels, regional vice president for leasing at landlord International Airport Centers represented the landlord in-house
L.A. Records Management Inc. signed a 10-year, 108,288-square-foot lease at 15624 Roxford St. in Sylmar. The deal is valued at more than $8 million. L.A. Records Management, which specializes in storage and retrieval of documents, files and boxes, will relocate from a 50,000-square-foot facility in Sun Valley. Chuck Carmichael of NAI Capital Commercial Real Estate Services represented the tenant in the deal. Barbara Emmons of CB Richard Ellis and Chris Sullivan of DAUM Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord, World Oil Corp.
Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 235 or by e-mail at [email protected].
