Council approves next steps for affordable housing development of city-owned sites
February 28, 2025 8:20 AM
by Heather Averick
The city of Santa Monica’s approved Housing Element details the city’s plan for building 1,880 affordable homes on city-owned sites.
Two of the five sites identified in the Housing Element are now in the pre-development phase.
The remaining sites are:
- 1333 4th St. and 1324 5th St. (collectively known as 4th/5th/Arizona)
- 2500 Olympic Blvd. (Bergamot Station Arts Center)
- Main Street public parking lots 9, 10 and 11
The Housing Element requires that a Request for Proposals for the next site be issued by June 30 of this year, and the next by June 30, 2027.
In a staff report for the Feb. 25 City Council meeting, staff recommended focusing on Bergamot Station Arts Center and 4th/5th/Arizona as the next properties for development, and holding off on the Main Street parking lots due to the complexity of the site, the large amount of residences committed, and additional due diligence needed before moving forward.
Bergamot Station
The Housing Element commits the five-acre Bergamot Station Arts Center site for the development of 707 affordable apartments. The site currently consists of five buildings that are leased to 30 galleries and other creative uses and a restaurant.
4th/5th/Arizona
The Housing Element commits the city-owned properties at 1301 4th St. and 1333 4th St. for the development of 331 affordable apartments. The sites are currently leased to Bank of America and Chase Bank, through 2026 – both banks having expressed their desire to stay at these sites for as long as possible – and these leases generate $2.5 million to the city’s General Fund annually.
Staff also noted in the staff report that city-owned Parking Structure 1, located at 1234 4th St., will require a $14 million seismic retrofit in October 2027 to continue to serve as a parking structure, and that it may make sense to consider combining this site with 4th/5th/Arizona to create a larger parcel that would allow for more revenue-generating opportunities and community benefit opportunities in addition to affordable housing.
Next steps
At its Feb. 25 meeting, the City Council discussed when to release Request for Proposals for each site and determined that rather than wait two years between the release, staff should proceed with both Bergamot Station Arts Center and 4th/5th/Arizona, plus Parking Structure 1, as soon as possible.
Council approved the following:
- Declaring Bergamot Station Arts Center, 4th/5th/Arizona, and Parking Structure 1 as “surplus land”.
- Issuing Notices of Availability, or NOAs, for all three properties this year.
- To prioritize revitalization of the downtown, the NOAs for 4th/5th/Arizona and Parking Structure 1 will be issued first, by June 30, to comply with the Housing Element.
- The NOA for Bergamot Station Arts Center will follow as closely as staff capacity allows.
- Emphasizing that proposals for these properties should maximize affordable housing and revenue-generating opportunities, and that Bergamot Station Arts Center proposals should include preferences for Right of Return for current Bergamot tenants, commercial arts-serving purposes, and relocating current Bergamot tenants.
The city must enter into a 90-day negotiation process with each developer that responds to the NOA. If the city decides to move forward with one of the proposals, no additional RFP process is required. If none of the proposals are acceptable to the city, the city would then begin a regular RFP process. Either scenario satisfies the requirements of the Housing Element.
For more information, read the full staff report and this blog post.
Authored By
Heather Averick
Director of Housing and Human Services