A pending staff presentation to the Santa Monica Architectural Review Board offers a first look at plans to redevelop a Vons supermarket at the intersection of Lincoln Boulevard and Broadway with housing and retail.
Related California, the developer behind the project, is seeking entitlements from the City of Santa Monica to demolish the existing supermarket and its parking lot, making way for the construction of a new five-to-eight-story building featuring 296 apartments with a 63,000-square-foot space for Vons, a commercial gym, and restaurant space at the ground floor. Plans also call for a two-level, 374-car basement garage.
The proposed development would include a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom dwellings - including 89 units of deed-restricted affordable units, or 30 percent of the project total.
LARGE Architecture is designing the project, which is described in a staff report has having three separate design expressions, including a curvilinear form along Broadway, folds facing 7th Street, and waves along Lincoln Boulevard. Proposed exterior finishes include brick facade, glass, and wood accents. Plans also call for open space amenities such as a rooftop deck and large podium courtyard
The scheduled presentation to the Architectural Review Board is intended to solicit feedback - no vote on the project's design concept is scheduled at this point in time.
Related's proposed development, which will span 2.5 acres in a busy corner of Downtown Santa Monica, is neighbored by a handful of similar mixed-use projects which are now planned or under construction.
Next door at 1550 Lincoln Boulevard, prolific local developer WS Communities is building a five-story, 100-unit building on the former site of a Denny's restaurant. The Santa Monica-based firm is has proposed three additional projects on the same block.
To the south across Colorado Avenue, Century West Partners and Cypress Equity Investments are building more than 300 apartments in three developments between Colorado Avenue and the Santa Monica Freeway.
Related California, which is best known locally for the $1-billion Grand Avenue Project in Downtown Los Angeles, is no stranger to Santa Monica - the company's portfolio includes a $350-million housing complex adjacent to Tongva Park. In addition to building residential towers in Century City and Hollywood, and Related is also a prolific developer of affordable housing.
- 710 Broadway - Santa Monica (Urbanize LA)