Santa Monica’s Week In Business

Michael Rosenthal

   City chooses firm to design Civic Center
   Santa Monica is proceeding with redeveloping and redesigning the Civic Center. The City Council has approved a contract with the ROMA Design Group of San Francisco for $725,000, plus $75,000 for contingencies. The contract is to provide design assistance for the 11.3 acres across from City Hall that the city acquired in a $53 million purchase from the RAND Corp. last year. The City likes to contract with people it's accustomed to. ROMA worked on both the Third Street Promenade and the original Civic Center Plan. 
   The powers that be at City Hall have already determined the current RAND buildings will be demolished and something built in its place. That "something" will be a subject of the design review. One question will be how much resident input the City accepts. At the moment, there seems to be very little "exploring and discovering" going on. The Public Works department was dead set against renovating the existing well-maintained RAND property. The politicians often refer back to a civic center plan that is now defunct because RAND opted to sell its land to the City rather than developing it. Included in the original plan were a new Public Safety Facility and more office space for city staff. 
   Mayor Mike Feinstein wants open space, but will probably approve mid-scale development to satisfy various resident requests for low cost housing, artists' studios, and in all probability a huge underground parking lot, topped, we hope, by green park space 
   One of the key elements of the new Center is a beautiful public plaza. With RAND's approved 300,000 sq. ft headquarters, the Maguire Partners new commercial building adjacent to it on Ocean Ave. and the Hotel Strip on the west side of Ocean ave., the area will need all the open space it can get. 
   
   Real Estate news
   The huge Water Garden complex situated at Cloverfield Blvd. and Colorado Ave. is preparing to consolidate its ownership. A deal is pending for the JP Morgan Chase Co. to acquire the 600,000 square foot Water Garden II property. The banking giant already owns Water Farden I. The selling price is said to be $240,000,000. Development cost for Phase II is said to be approximately $150,000,000. Owner/developer J.H. Snyder appears to have turned a tidy profit on one of the largest development projects in Santa Monica history. 
   Snyder is now in the planning stages for a large retail-commercial development in West Hollywood at the eastern "gateway" at La Brea and Santa Monica Blvds. 
Santa Monica shopping center developer Rick Caruso is competing with Snyder for the right to build the 15-acre Glendale Town Center at the intersection of Colorado Street and Brand Blvd. 
Caruso is reported to have inked Nordstroms as an anchor tenant for the new Grove at Farmers Market.
   Pacifica Capital Group of Marina Del Rey, the developers of the proposed, recently rejected Target store in Santa Monica, have sold the 62,835 sq. ft Manhattan Beach Office Plaza to shoe manufacturer Skechers. 
   According to Bob Safai, principal in the Madison Partners brokerage firm nearly one million square feet of office space is available for lease or sublease within a mile of Water Garden. 
   Kilroy Realty has chosen Insignia/ESG to be its leasing agent for the third phase of Westside Media Center located on Olympic at Centinela. EToys will be vacating its space within the next few months. opening up additional commercial space for prospective new tenants. 
   
   Business briefs
   Encore Venture Partners, based in Santa Monica, has closed its office here and will no longer be funding technology firms. The firm's primary limited partner, home builder D.R. Horton located in Dallas, plans to focus on residential real estate. 
   Blur Studio in Venice has added Tim Brown to its graphics design division specializing in 3D animation and visual effects production. 
   Santa Monica-based Universal Music Publishing Group has promoted Linda A. Newmark to Senior Vice President, acquisitions.