By Lookout Staff

June 21, 2016 -- Ocean Avenue South, a mixed-use housing complex that met stiff opposition when it was approved a decade ago, is a finalist in the 2016 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Awards for Excellence, City officials announced Monday.

The Santa Monica development is the only property in the Los Angeles area being considered for ULI's Global Award, which is widely recognized as one of the land use industry’s most prestigious award programs, City officials said.

Affordable housing component of Santa Monica Civic Center housing complex. Photo credit: City of  Santa Monica

Originally called The Village, Ocean Avenue South is "the largest affordable housing community supported by City financing," said Andy Agle, director of the City’s Housing and Economic Development Department.

The public component of the project was one of the last affordable housing developments supported by the former Santa Monica Redevelopment Agency before the state abolished some 400 such agencies in 2012, City officials said.

The complex -- which is divided into three sites with buildings that range from four to ten stories in height -- provides "plenty of open spaces meant to activate the street,” said Bill Witte, president of Related California.

The property includes 20,000-square feet of retail and restaurant space and a walkway connecting Main Street to Ocean Avenue.

The development was the subject of controversy when it was approved by the City Council in 2007.

The 96-foot-tall building next to the Viceroy Hotel was opposed by slow-growth activists and two City Council members, Bob Holbrook and Bobby Shriver ("Civic Center Village Plan Gets Go-ahead," August 16, 2007).

Four years later, the Council narrowly approved an amendment that allowed the developer to extend the lease from 99 years to 149 years after the first 75 years ("Council Gives Village Developer a 149-year Lease Option," October 13, 2011).

Ocean Avenue South is one of 26 developments vying for ULI's global prize. They include two developments in Asia, six in Europe and 18 in North America.

The winning projects will be selected by an international jury composed of ULI members "representing a multidisciplinary collection of real estate development expertise, including finance, land planning, development, public affairs, design, and other professional services," officials said.

A panel of judges toured the Santa Monica development on June 13. Award winners will be announced in October at the ULI Fall Meeting in Dallas.

The institute, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary, has more than 38,000 members worldwide "representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines," officials said.

ULI’s Global Awards for Excellence program was created in 1979 to recognize real estate projects that "achieve a high standard of excellence in design, construction, economics, planning, and management," officials said.

For more information on the ULI Global Awards for Excellence, visit uli.org.