By Jorge Casuso

November 17, 2025 -- The City Council on Tuesday will discuss purchasing a newly constructed office building at a time when the City is strapped for cash and has ample room for its workforce.

Photo Courtesy of Mathew Millen

The two items added to the closed session agenda have led to speculation the City may be considering the property at 1640 14th Street, as well as two lots at 1639 and 1645 Euclid Street, as the new site for SAMOSHEL, the homeless shelter Downtown.

The negotiations over the "price and terms of payment for purchase” of the properties will be conducted by City Manager Oliver Chi and Jim Jacobsen, the founder of Industry Partners.

Industry Partners -- which has ten other properties in Santa Monica for sale or lease -- recently completed the three-story, 38,995-square-foot creative office building at 1640 14th Street approved by the Planning Commission in June 2024.

The negotiations come three weeks after the Council approved an ambitious "realignment plan" that calls for the relocation of SAMOSHEL from its current location at 505 Olympic Boulevard near the Expo light rail terminal and the 10 Freeway exit Downtown.

The plan replaces the existing 24-hour, 60-bed shelter with a “'healing center' approach," according to the staff report outlining the plan.

"Our current shelter provides a low-barrier congregate setting, however, it does not integrate support services provided through the adjacent Access Center," the report states.

The current shelter also does not identify a "distinct and clear pathway to help individuals transition from a sheltering environment, to transitional housing, and finally to permanent housing."

Santa Monica landlord Mathew Millen, who has been actively monitoring publicly funded housing facilities in the Pico Neighborhood, believes the City plans to relocate SAMOSHEL to the site.

"Why is the City buying an office building shell that hasn't been divided yet?" Millen asked. "The floors aren't built out."

"Apparently, the City wants to buy this property to relocate SAMOSHEL to the segregated Pico Neighborhood that's already saturated with publicly funded housing and homeless facilities."

Millen notes that the Pico Neighborhood is home to a CLARE Foundation residential rehab facility, two 55-bed homeless shelters and a Salvation Army residential rehab facility.

The City's least expensive and most diverse neighborhood also claims two large homeless housing projects -- a 55-unit building at 1413 Michigan Avenue and a 78-unit building at 1634 20th Street currently under construction.

Former Councilmember Oscar de la Torre, a longtime activist in the Pico Neighborhood, believes the Euclid site, which is directly across the street from the Memorial Park children's playground, is a poor choice for SAMOSHEL.

"They shouldn't put it there," said de la Torre. "It will just continue the pattern of dumping undesirable developments in the Pico Neighborhood."

De la Torre also believes that moving the shelter a dozen blocks from its current location will do little to alleviate the homeless problem Downtown.

He believes Santa Monica Airport, which is slated to close at the end of 2028 and is at the eastern edge of the city, would be a better site.

"The Airport site makes more sense," de la Torrre said. "Some of the land is in the City of LA," making it a better location "to create a regional behavioral center."

Millen notes that there is no other logical explanation for the City to buy a building after it has downsized its workforce, is leasing public land to developers and is considering selling properties to help balance its budget.

The assessed land value of the property at 1640 14th Street, excluding the new building, is $7.9 million, while the lots at 1639 and 1645 Euclid are assessed at $6.7 million and $9 million respectively, according to the County Assessor's Office.

A key question, Millen said, is: "If the city is 'broke' where are they getting money to buy this?"

As with other agenda items the Council discusses behind closed doors, Tuesday's item does not include an explanation of the project.

Millen notes that the Council on October 28 unanimously approved steps to make the process for new homeless housing facilities in the city more transparent ("Council Votes to Make Homeless Housing Projects More 'Transparent,'" November 3, 2025).

"Two weeks ago, they said they would be transparent with what they were doing, and they're doing this in secret," Millen said.

He noted the confidentiality of the closed-door session should be restricted to the terms of the deal and not what the City planned to do with the properties. ”They should have told the neighbors," he said.

If the City in fact plans to purchase the site for SAMOSHEL, it is unclear whether it will face the strong opposition that met the proposed opening of two transitional housing facilities for the mentally ill homeless on Ocean Avenue.

The proposed County facilities totaling 49 beds at 413 and 825 Ocean Avenue -- across from Palisades Park in the City's upscale north side -- triggered an outcry that led to the project's termination ("Ocean Avenue Mental Health Projects Pulled," October 27, 2025).