Mel’s Drive-In, a well-known landmark to anyone making the mistake of exiting the westbound 10 Freeway at Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica, is poised to make way for the corridor's latest mixed-use development.

ValueRock Realty, owner of the property at 1670 Lincoln Boulevard, recently filed an application which calls for razing the Googie restaurant and its parking lot to enable the construction of an eight-story building featuring 138 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments above 5,667 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and semi-subterranean parking for 123 vehicles.

1670 Lincoln BoulevardGoogle Street View

Requested entitlements include density bonus incentives to allow a larger building than otherwise permitted by zoning rules, as well as waivers to other land use regulations. In exchange, 14 of the proposed apartments would be set aside for rent by very low-, low-, and moderate-income households.

Ottinger Architects is designing 1670 Lincoln, which would include a rooftop deck and a central courtyard. Plans show a modern podium-type development.

1670 Lincoln BoulevardGoogle Street View

The project site sits directly south of a similar mixed-use building recently completed at 1650 Lincoln Boulevard, which is one of more than a half-dozen similar housing complexes completed along Lincoln within the past decade.

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