City Officials Take Initial Step to Replace Santa Monica Place

By Jorge Casuso

June 4 -- Calling the 20-year-old indoor mall a "dinosaur," the City Council and members of two task forces Monday night gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to a conceptual plan to replace Santa Monica Place and add a fourth block to the Third Street Promenade.

The plan calls for tearing down the 22-year-old indoor mall, which has gone from a cash cow that allowed Downtown Santa Monica to compete with new regional indoor malls to an obstacle blocking the flow of pedestrians from the thriving Promenade to the proposed Civic Center.

The proposed mixed-use project -- which calls for keeping the mall's two department stores intact -- could slightly increase retail from 561,250 square feet to 567,250, add between 150 and 450 housing units, increase parking from 1,956 and 2,220 spaces and add as many as 100,000 square feet of office space. It would not, however, include movie theaters.

"I really feel that Santa Monica Place is a dinosaur," said Councilman Ken Genser. Indoor malls, he said, "are really dying out. This serves as a big lump between the Promenade and the Civic Center. This serves as a barrier. It's really a blockade, almost a fort in the city.

"It would be beneficial if we could see changes there," Genser said. "This is a really exciting opportunity. We have a possibility of using private investment to get rid of this dinosaur that is not only dying, it's creating a barrier in this city."

"I think this is a great opportunity," said Councilman Herb Katz. "This opens it up, and I think the Promenade continuation is excellent."

During the three-hour study session, the council and members of the Promenade Uses Task Force and the Civic Center Working Group, narrowed down for staff analysis a complex proposal few had seem before the meeting.

The plan -- hammered out by officials of Macerich Corp, which runs the mall, and the City -- taps into the 10 million annual visitors to the Promenade by enticing them to stroll outdoors past restaurants and shops south to the Civic Center, further south to Main Street and west to the pier.

"We want to integrate this area to the surrounding area to really make it a significant part of the city," said consultant Boris Dramov, of ROMA Design, who helped devise the plan. "We're not only looking at bringing energy and vitality into this area, but into the edges.

"I think it's going to be extremely beneficial to the Third Street Promenade," Dramov said. "We're going to be able to connect the area in a better, a more direct way. We will extend the public environment."

The plan would bring most of the restaurants and shops down to the ground floor along an extended Third Street and along intersecting paths to 2nd and 4th streets. The two department stores also would occupy the higher levels, along with some retail and office space.

"We're taking it (the retail) off of the upper floors where it's having a hard time working and putting it on the street level," Dramov said.

Extending the Promenade won unanimous support, but including office space got mixed reviews.

"It's a great concept and it's very exciting to extend the Promenade another block," said Merlyn Ruddell, a property owner who sits on the Promenade Uses Task Force. "You're really borrowing on the success of the Promenade as it exists. To bring office seems a mistake to me. The office is being served on the Third Street Promenade."

"I have a concern about increasing office space," said Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown. "The 100,000 square feet is in an area where the infrastructure is already maxed out."

But other council members argued for a balance of uses. "The mix of uses is really important," Genser said. "It gives it liveliness at different times of the day."

"I'm more comfortable with mixed use," said Council member Pam O'Connor. "We're getting more housing, and people do need to work."

Another proposal that caused concern involved relocating the food court to the third level. But Dramov and mall officials made a convincing argument that it would lure shoppers in search of a quick affordable meal to the upper levels.

"By having food on the third level and doing it well, people will seek it out," said Randy Brant, a Macerich official. "Having a food court up there will bring more people to the second floor retail and restaurants."

The officials on the dais also grappled with how much housing should be built. Most agreed that 450 units on 11 floors would be out of character with the area, while eight floors with 300 units or five with 150 units was more appropriate.

The officials asked staff to explore the possibility of making some of the units, which would go above new parking structures, affordable and include a range of sizes to accommodate families.

As with all projects Downtown, the big issue was parking. Council and task force members worried that the new uses would increase the demand for spaces and eat into the much-needed spaces that would be added under an ambitious $92.5 million Downtown Parking Plan.

"The parking we're approving is in jeopardy," said Bill Tucker, a property owner who sits on the Bayside District board and the Promenade Uses Task Force.

"We can't have something that sucks up that capacity," Genser said. "Can we handle the circulation, the cars? If we can't, we have to ratchet down the size."

Others questioned the cost of moving 2,000 spaces below ground into five-level and six-level subterranean garages.

It is still unclear how much of the tab -- likely to run in the tens of millions of dollars -- would be picked up by Macerich and how much by the City, which owns the parking structures and is encouraging the proposed housing. But City officials warned that the plan will require careful scrutiny.

"We're talking about a project that will cost millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars," said Councilman Richard Bloom. "I'm sure there are as many failures as there are successes.

"We need to have an eclectic mix of restaurants and store," Bloom said. "We have to avoid chains, avoid the Disneyland feel. I don't think it's Santa Monica. It's not what we want." Then he added, "I'm really looking to the future of this project."

While the tenure was upbeat, council members were concerned about the lack of public input and the detail of a plan they had not had a chance to study before the meeting.

"I'm concerned about public process," Genser said. "All of us saw this tonight for the first time, and we're giving our opinion."

"I'm a bit discomforted by the level of detail," McKeown said.

City staff said they were trying to get direction to proceed with an Environmental Impact Report and general planning policies that can be incorporated in the Civic Center Specific Plan. The issue would come back with plenty of public process before a plan is submitted. The final step would be a development agreement with Macerich.