Downtown Renewal

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

June 8 -- On a plot of land on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard near 6th Street, rows of corrugated rebar jut from cemented sections of ground covered with a lattice-work of pipes and metal framing.

Two blocks down towards the Third Street Promenade, mounds of dirt rest against wooden barricades, leaving a gaping hole where the earth has been excavated.

A street over, a cracked façade remains buttressed by steel girders while its hollow interior awaits the hammers and drills of construction crews.

From Ocean Avenue out to 7th Street, a wave of development that is sure to affect where people eat, drink, shop and live is washing over the Downtown. From retail stores and offices to new five-story apartment buildings, the previous tenants’ departures have paved the way for developers to build up and renovate the City’s commercial hub.

“The development trend is really mixed right now,” said John Warfel, chair of the Bayside District board, which runs the Downtown. “The boom in construction really has to do with the continuous turnover of existing space driven by changes in the marketplace.

“Because of the rent increases in the recent past,” Warfel added, “some of the older tenants have decided not to stay in the area.”

In the case of Downtown’s biggest development, however, the tenant will remain the same. The City’s new $66 million public library, which will eventually span a half city block between 6th and 7th streets at Santa Monica Boulevard – is gradually rising from the ground.

With the first floor freshly poured last month, construction crews have already begun turning their attention to the second level, as a dozen cement-mixing trucks shuttle in and out of the site.

“It’s a great place for the library’s construction to be at right now,” said Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson. “We’re hitting all of our budget projections and will finish in the fall of 2005.”

When completed, the new 100,000-square-foot facility will boast nearly twice the floor space, swell the existing collection by 50,000 volumes and nearly triple the parking of the old facility to some 600 spaces.

But during construction, parking near the project remains at a premium.
“The parking? It sucks,” said Bob DePietro, an owner of Folio Gallery, a vintage poster shop directly across from the site. “I’ve been back in town only about a month, and I’ve already got two tickets.

“There’s eight spaces just in front here taken over by the construction,” he said, “and these meter maids seem to hover over your car just waiting to write you up.”

While an inconvenience to some, the parking crunch has actually cut into profits for others.

“Business is down almost 40 percent because of the construction and parking,” said Jay Ghantous, the owner of Sham, an ornately decorated Middle-Eastern restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard at Lincoln Avenue. “It especially hurts the lunch-time rush, between 12 and 2 p.m.”

The situation is so dire, Ghantous is looking into shelling out nearly $2,000 a month for valet parking.

“Lunch is limited to walk-ins now,” he said, “And despite there being multiple office buildings in the area, people only have 30 minutes or so for lunch and don’t have time to go driving around looking for parking.”

Ghantous said his business will survive, but “an update from the City on the construction would be nice.”

A block down from the library construction, work crews are busy building the first of four five-story apartment buildings on the west side of 5th Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard.

Totaling more than 200 units, the nearly 70-foot-tall buildings with ground floor retail will replace a stretch of surface parking lots. The 1450 5th Street building is currently under construction, while the other three at 1410, 1420 and 1442 have all been approved and should be completed within the next two and a half years, according to City planning officials.

Nearly 500 new subterranean parking spaces – 49 of which will be reserved for commercial use – will be added when all four buildings are completed, officials said.

The new residents will be a “boon” to the area east of the Promenade, Warfel said. “They’ll shop, they’ll eat, they’ll go out after work.”

On 4th Street, those new residents may end up looking over retail items in a new shop with an old façade. Across from “Dance Doctor” and a half block down from the “Toys R Us” on Santa Monica Boulevard, an old furniture building is being renovated from the inside out.

Four crested shields embedded with majestic lions still adorn the top of the sandstone building, although time has taken its toll, visibly cracking the arches that support the building’s exterior. For now, metal I-beams support the structure.

“We decided on our own to keep the façade, which is really a very expensive position to take,” said the building’s owner, Karl Schober. “It’s in a great location, right by one of the three off ramps from the freeway that leads into Santa Monica. You come off the freeway and, bingo, you’re there.”

The 41,500-square-foot, four-story building – scheduled to be ready for move-in by the end of September – will have subterranean parking, retail on the first and possibly second floors, offices and room for a restaurant, Schober said.

A block over, on the thriving Third Street Promenade, three buildings are boarded up awaiting major renovations.

Near the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard 20-foot-tall models clad in black stare with steely expressions across the street artists performing on the strip below. The two-dimensional advertisements seem to guard the future home of Zara, an international apparel retailer, that will move into the WT Grant building at 1338 Third Street in the space formerly occupied by the UCLA Extension.

Almost directly across the street, work crews are inside the ground floor at 1351 Third Street turning the old Teaser’s Restaurant into a second location for Barney’s Beanery (the original is in West Hollywood). The new restaurant features a full-length bar, mezzanine seating level and sunken pool table area.

At the far end of the Promenade, near Broadway and Santa Monica Place, the Canadian chain Café Crepe just signed a 10-year, $5-million contract to take over 3,100 square feet of space previously occupied by Broadway Bar & Grill, according to a report in the LA Business Journal. At almost $11 a square foot, the rent will be among the highest rates paid on the retail strip.

To keep the burgers and crepes from contributing to a Homer Simpsonesque waistline, locals may find themselves heading for the new Equinox Fitness, which is redeveloping space at the corner of 2nd Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.

The New York-based company – which boasts numerous nationwide facilities – will open its 32,000 square-foot spa and fitness club this fall in the hopes of drawing upscale clientele who can afford an initial fee of $400 plus a monthly fee of $125.

“We chose to come to Santa Monica because there are people here and in the surrounding area, like Malibu, of a higher income who want to have a specialized fitness experience in a beach club atmosphere,” said membership advisor Shaun Bradley.

The three-story fitness facility includes weights, cardio machines, a spa and steam rooms. There’s even a salad and juice bar for those who crave a dose of wheat grass after a workout.

The tide of renovation has rippled as far as Ocean Avenue. Tourists strolling by the former “Rebecca’s” restaurant at the corner of Broadway will find a porch disheveled with old kitchen equipment, a busted ATM machine and heat lamps that are quickly gathering dust.

But by Independence Day, tourists and business crowds could be enjoying their ocean views with Pacific Rim and French-inspired tapas over a martini lunch in the 4,200 square-foot Kai restaurant and lounge.

“We got a good price on it,” said local entrepreneur and bartender Christian Warren, one of two partners behind the Polynesian-themed restaurant. “Seems the guy who owned it before gave us a break on the deal.”

Along with tourists and office crowds, Christian hopes to land the “hip, trendy, good looking 20-somethings at night as well.”

One block north on Ocean Avenue, the building on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard is also undergoing major renovation. The former Crocodile Café is being converted into Boa Prime Grill, an upscale steakhouse with a sister restaurant in West Hollywood. The new restaurant hopes to fire up the grills in late August or early September.

“This is not your father’s steakhouse,”said Jill Dukes, who handles the restaurant’s account for Innovative Dining, which also owns Sushi Roku across the street. “It’s a more sophisticated restaurant.”

Upstairs from the steakhouse, M. Paul David and Associates -- the developer responsible for the Warner Bros. Records building in the valley -- is busy converting a two bedroom apartment into a 1,600-square-foot penthouse.

By June, the lavish residential beachfront pad will boast a 400-square-foot deck with sweeping ocean views and a private elevator, according to developer Leo Davinsky. At around $8,000 dollars a month, the penthouse is ideal for “someone who would enjoy the benefits of living Downtown in a place where you can take in a sunset on the ocean,” Davinsky said