Opening Up Santa Monica Place

By Ed Moosbrugger

September 15 -- New plans for a re-do of Santa Monica Place don’t face nearly as much flak as the ill-fated proposal that was shot down by community opposition last year.

The new concept being floated before the city, community and business groups appears to have a good chance to fly because it avoids some of the biggest issues that doomed the previous proposal.

Those concerns included the height and scale of the 2004 proposal and accompanying traffic issues.

Gone are the proposed three 21-story condo buildings. Gone is the office building. Gone is the apartment building. Gone is expanded parking.

Instead, mall owner Macerich Co. now proposes what amounts to a major remodel that will make large portions of the center open air and offer a better connection to the Third Street Promenade. There will be an expanded center court and open-air dining on the third level, where the food court will be relocated.

The center court would be an open-air gathering place. (Renderings courtesy of Macerich Company and Jerde Partnership)

Santa Monica Place will remain a three-level retail center, but with a dramatically new open-air atmosphere.

When construction starts, the process also promises to be less disruptive than the prior plan would have been.

Macy's department store is expected to remain open during construction work on the center, said Robert D. Aptaker, vice president of real estate for Santa Monica based Macerich. Meanwhile, the two City-owned parking structures at Santa Monica Place will continue to operate.

There are some losses, of course, from scaling back the project. There won’t be a park and there won’t be a more modern parking facility.

Macerich has been showing its new concept at various meetings around the community, with more meetings scheduled in September.

The company hopes to begin construction in the first quarter of 2008 and to re-open in the fall of 2009, Aptaker said. Construction is estimated to take 18 to 20 months.

One of the key features of the redevelopment, or adaptive reuse, would be a bigger, curved center court open to the sky.

“We want to have a real grand opening in the center” to provide “a gathering place for the community,” Aptaker said.

Indeed, Macerich will be sacrificing some retail space to expand the center court area.

Although the scale of the latest concept seems more in keeping with community desires, residents are still interested in the details, as was clear at a Macerich presentation to the Friends of Sunset Park neighborhood group in early August.

Residents want to know what kinds of stores will be there. Some lobbied for a Target or JCPenney store. Aptaker said there could be a problem with a Target because that retailer uses shopping carts, which could be a problem in the sloping parking structures.

Santa Monica Place probably will target the middle to upscale markets and the store mix needs to appeal first to Santa Monica area residents, said Macerich spokeswoman Molly Bowler.

“It has to be a place that appeals to local shoppers,” she said. “We also expect that visitors will like it.”

Macerich is hiring a consultant to help determine the kinds of stores that are in demand. The company says it will be looking for retail that complements what’s already on the Third Street Promenade.

Macerich has greater flexibility in redesigning Santa Monica Place now that it has acquired the former Robinsons-May department store space. That 131,250-square-foot space will remain retail, but Macerich hasn’t determined whether the space will be occupied by a new department store or be divided up, Aptaker said.

Some residents worried that parking structures at Santa Monica Place will remain congested, which has driven some shoppers away.

Others were interested in how wide the north-south walkway will be. At the north end facing the Promenade it will be 40 to 45 feet wide, which is about half the width of the Promenade from store front to store front, Aptaker said. At the south end it will be about 30 feet wide.

“Restaurants are a very important part of this project,” Aptaker said, but added that there will be no movie theaters.

Here’s what Macerich hopes the redeveloped Santa Monica Place will feel like: “Our new ideas focus on opening up the center – literally taking the roof off the center section – so that people can walk through Santa Monica Place, day or night, and it will feel like a seamless transition to other parts of the city.

“Ideally, the new experience will focus on fresh air, views, natural light and great storefront retail.”

Hopefully, community input will help make that a reality.

SANTA MONICA HOTELS had a strong June, with the occupancy rate rising 7.4 percent from a year earlier to 82.9 percent, and the average daily room rate increasing 9.8 percent to $243.13, according to a report from PKF Consulting.