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Leasing of Luxury Apartments Furthers Downtown Santa Monica's Housing Boom

Santa Monica Real Estate Company, Roque and Mark
By Jorge Casuso

December 10, 2012 – Downtown Santa Monica's biggest housing developer announced Friday that it is pre-leasing 50 luxury apartments in its newest complex, furthering the housing boom City officials say has turned the main commercial district into a full-fledged neighborhood.

The announcement by NMS properties comes less than three months after developers broke ground on two neighboring projects at 702 Arizona Avenue and 1317 Seventh Street that will add 107 apartment units to the Downtown.

NMS officials say their newest development at 1420 Fifth Street – which features large one and two-bedroom apartments with luxury amenities, such as concierge dry cleaning and personal bike racks – will further the City's goal of turning the Downtown into a sustainable community.

“The building is close enough to top area employers, including Google, Universal Music Group and Viacom, for renters to walk or use public transportation for their commute,” NMS said in a statement released Friday. “At the end of the day, renters can dine at premier area restaurants” near the new complex.

“With our current leasing specials, we expect 100 percent occupancy before February,” said Jim Andersen, president of NMS Properties.

The Downtown housing boom is the result of a 1996 City Council decision to encourage new residential development by offering incentives to build housing that would enliven Downtown around the clock.

The policy has been a major success, with developers lining 5th, 6th and 7th streets with new apartment buildings, including some two dozen built or planned in the past four years. The developments included affordable housing developments as well as high-end condos.

“We've created a neighborhood, so there are people there during the night, during the daytime,” said former Mayor Richard Bloom, adding that the Downtown has a unique sense of place that benefits residents as well as visitors.

While most of the City’s development is guided by the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) approved by the council in 2010, Santa Monica's main commercial district falls under the Downtown Specific Plan adopted in 1986 and updated ten years later.

City officials are currently hammering out a new plan for the area that likely will continue to encourage housing. For now, the City requires Downtown projects taller than 32 feet to be negotiated under a Development Agreement (DA), which includes community benefits, rather than receiving administrative approval under the 1996 ordinance.

The new NMS project features expansive windows and penthouse apartments with “soaring, cathedral-style ceilings and floor to-ceiling, double glazed windows,” according to the developer.

“We designed the units to take advantage of ocean breezes,” said Wade Killefer,of Killefer Flammang Architects, who designed the building. “Lower units look out over a lushly landscaped courtyard, while upper floors have views that stretch from the nearby Santa Monica Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.”

Under a settlement agreement approved by the council in August, the property at 1420 5th Street – as well as those at 1440 5th Street and 1427 7th Street – will provide the affordable housing required by the market rate projects to be located off-site.


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