City Council Presents Potential Plans for Parcel B

Usually, when developers respond to a city's Request For Proposals, they present their potential projects in a closed session with the city council/redevelopment agency board. Earlier this week, the Culver City Council/Redevelopment Agency Board took an unusual step by opening that part of the process up to the public with special meetings on Monday and Tuesday, as four developers presented their potential projects for the vacant lot at 9300 Culver Boulevard, better known as .

"This is only one part of the process,"  told the full house at the Mike Balkman City Council Chambers Monday night.

He then went on to remind the council that the process is also a negotiation and that the council should avoid signaling any preferences.

Mayor Micheal O'Leary also pointed out multiple times that the council was seeing these projects for the first time, just as the public was.

The plot of land has been the object of numerous development projects since the late 1970s, the most recent in 2005, a project that fell through when the developer could not raise the money needed to build. Interest in the project has remained high in the community, partly because of its high profile in the downtown area, at the intersections of Culver Boulevard and Washington Boulevard and Ince Avenue.

Reactions to the more open process were mostly positive.

"I thought the process was fine," said Marla Koosed, who was speaking as a private citizen and not from her position on the . "The fact that the city was willing to unveil the plans simultaneously is very rare. I thought the process was very open."

, who is the city's honorary historian, said that she thought it was good that the plans were unveiled in front of the public, pointing out that previous projects for Parcel B had been revealed in closed session and they did fare well.

"I think this process is a real step forward," Cerra said. "Being honest with the developer and the public."

The four presentations, available as proposals and as PowerPoint presentations, are linked on the city's website, under the redevelopment link. Viewers do need to scroll down to the links listed under each of the developers names.

The four projects all involve four floors at their highest, a mix of retail/restaurant space with offices, open walkways and underground parking. Sustainability was also a major feature of all four projects—with all four developers offering to meet requirements to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council at varying levels, as part of the council's Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED certification).

The Tolkin Group's project was based a previous city design where Culver and Washington Boulevards had a t-intersection. They have added a modern-style design.

The Runyon Group offered the Paseo, a project whose design is based on early Spanish architecture.

The Combined Properties project features a large stair-step/amphitheater as a major part of its architectural plan.

Cardiff Realty Holdings' project most unique feature is the roof-top garden.

Reactions to the various projects were largely mixed.

"I think they’re sort of overblown for the most part," said Ross Hawkins, who has been actively campaigning to have a as part of the site. He leaned somewhat toward the Runyan Group project for a couple reasons. "One, the design of the buildings resembled what's already there, and [developer Joe Miller] is amenable to the idea of a motion picture museum."

Michelle Weiner thought the human scale was rather lost by all four of the proposed projects.

"The first evening I was struck very strongly by how massive the develoments appear to be and it seems to be out of proportion," Weiner said, adding that the developments presented on Tuesday gave her the same impression.

On the other hand, Julie Lugo Cerra was surprised that she liked all four of the projects.

"I think what I expected was to find one or two that really screamed at me and I saw four really good projects with different advantages," she said. "This is a decision that I'm glad is the council's."

Marla Koosed prefaced her impressions by explaining that she had been in the development business for 17 years: "I believe that there are two options out of the four that we could live with for a long period of time and have success," she said.

Her choices were The Tolkin Group and the Combined Partners projects, although she leaned a little toward The Tolkin Group simply because the various partners attached to the Combined Partners had not worked together before.

All of the presentation boards are on display in the Redevelopment office at City Hall. Residents are encouraged to send comments and thoughts to Joe Susca, the city staff member overseeing the project at joe.susca@culvercity.org.