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By Lookout Staff
April 16 -- An era will end and a new one will begin
Monday when the City begins razing the six-decade-old locker
building at the old Marion Davies estate to make way for a
public beach club.
The demolition, undertaken by Midwest Environmental Controls,
is slated to be completed next month, when the five-acre site
at 415 Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) will be turned over to
Pankow Special Projects LP for the construction phase.
Largely bankrolled with a nearly $30 million from the Annenberg
Foundation, the project includes the rehabilitation and adaptive
reuse of the historic North House for meeting spaces and an
interpretive center and the rehabilitation of the historic
swimming pool and deck area.
In addition, the project -- which also has received funding
from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
(HUD) -- calls for developing outdoor spaces for recreation
and leisure, including two garden areas, sports courts, a
family picnic and children’s play area, and a beach
boardwalk towards the ocean.
New buildings on the site will include an Entry Pavilion
with lifeguard and staff offices; a two-story Pool House with
locker and changing rooms and a second floor multi-purpose
room and a single story Event House designed to accommodate
recreational, interpretative and cultural programs and classes,
meetings and retreats, and small social functions. Images
of the project can be viewed at 415pch@smgov.net.
Red-tagged after the Northridge earthquake, the old Marion
Davies estate faced a number of obstacles before its slated
transformation could move forward.
Lack of funding left the building dilapidated for more than
a decade. Then after funding was secured, a legal roadblock
threatened to delay construction.
The project moved ahead last September when the City Council
voted to settle a lawsuit filed by four nearby homeowners.
The settlement -- which requires separate agreements with
the foundation and the California Department of Parks and
Recreation -- sets forth conditions relating to operating
hours, security, lighting, parking and noise.
It also calls for the City to continue to lobby Caltrans
to install a stoplight at the beach club entrance on PCH.
The suit was filed after the City Council unanimously denied
four appeals by its Gold Coast neighbors who fear the project
will pose safety hazards and lower their standard of living.
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