FEATURE ARTICLE, JULY 2008

JEWEL OF RENEWAL
Western redevelopment projects strive to revive.
Amy Bigley

Construction and development challenges are as varied as the projects themselves, but tackling a successful redevelopment project opens a new box of obstacles to overcome.

With the availability of developable land steadily decreasing, developers and cities are looking for ways to revamp desolate projects and communities. Taking on redevelopment and infill projects can be quite rewarding in the end, but many new challenges and obstacles must be overcome. Throughout the West, many developers are taking on the challenges of redevelopment and creating successful projects, which foster new growth and revitalized communities.

DBN Development is currently redeveloping a former dry-cleaning plant site into Radio Square, a residential and commercial development in Santa Barbara, California.

Laguna Hills, California-based DBN Development is diving into an environmental clean-up redevelopment project in Santa Barbara, California, called Radio Square, which came about through coordination with local companies.

The major challenge for DBN was “finding an economically viable overlap of community objectives and marketable uses,” says Steve Delson, president of DBN.

The company was introduced to the Radio Square project site by a Santa Barbara-based architect/planner, who was in the process of studying development options for the property owner. The former dry-cleaning plant site was under a clean-up order from the California Water Board to eliminate the discharges from the plant.

“The seller’s primary motivations were the need to resolve an environmental contamination and its implications,” explains Delson. “The skill set of the company’s principals gave us the confidence to acquire the property as a redevelopment opportunity.”

Located at 210 West Carrillo Street in Santa Barbara, the site’s prime location was another deciding factor for DBN. The company plans to transform the 50-year-old strip center into a thriving pedestrian-friendly residential and commercial development. Situated in the city’s historic El Paseo Viejo district, the project will feature 32 residential condominiums, approximately 16,000 square feet of commercial space and two levels of underground parking. Highlighting the area’s Spanish heritage, the development will feature five buildings of Spanish Colonial Revival architectural design oriented around a series of paseos and plazas, including a major plaza at the intersection of Carrillo and de la Vina streets. Designed by Conceptual Motion Company, construction for Radio Square is slated to begin in late 2008 with completion expected in late 2011.

Although DBN typically seeks out infill project opportunities in high value and high barrier-to-entry communities across coastal Southern California, the company was faced with an interesting challenge with Radio Square. As development and redevelopment projects come with various pros and cons, some communities are more leery of companies and developers than others. Delson explained that “being an out-of-town developer in a community with a high level of suspicion for any development” can be a difficult obstacle. With DBN’s vision and expertise, Radio Square will become a reality.

Echoing DBN’s experience as an out-of-town developer, Huntington Beach, California-based TEAM Companies and LaSalle Lofts LLC also met obstacles during the local city’s plan-check process of LaSalle Lofts, a San Pedro, California, multifamily developing featuring 26 residential loft condominiums and two retail/office condos.

After winning the right to acquire the former LaSalle SRO Hotel site from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, the project seemed to be moving full-throttle ahead as TEAM Companies expedited the entitlement process to ensure entitlement within 90 days, which was met by the city. However, the plan-check process turned out to be a completely different story, taking the company more than 12 months to complete.

“The L.A. bureaucracy for plan check was humbling to say the least,” says Jeff Bergsma of TEAM Companies.

In addition to the long plan-check process, preserving the historic elements of the project proved to be a difficult challenge. “The city was very appreciative of the fact that we not only agreed to preserve the historic façade of the building, but that we also proposed to build within the original building envelope, without trying to force more density by adding additional floors,” notes Bergsma.

Taking on historic redevelopment projects is not an easy task and not all challenges and obstacles can be planned for during the preliminary phases. Bringing the original façade up to seismic codes proved to be more challenging, time consuming and expensive then TEAM Companies originally planned. The façade renovation included stripping years of paint off the brickwork, brick by brick, and restoring the classic ornate stonework, which flanked the doors and windows. The company’s design team also added flower boxes below the second floor windows and copper awnings, which were not part of the original façade, to complement the restored building.

“The LaSalle Hotel presented us with exactly our ideal project scenario, with the added benefit of providing an opportunity to restore and partially preserve a historic icon in downtown San Pedro,” says Bergsma.

Slated for completion in November, LaSalle Lofts will offer 26 residential loft condominiums and two retail/office condominiums. Situated at 255 West 7th Street, the approximately 42,000-square-foot property will also feature private tandem two-car garages with 300 cubic feet of overhead storage and direct-garage building access for most units, which is a unique feature for the area. Offering views of San Pedro Harbor and the Vincent Thomas Bridge, the property’s state-of-the-art rooftop community area includes professional gas barbeques and lounge chairs. Unit prices will range from under $400,000 to $600,000, with all units priced under $600,000.

Legacy at Pratt Park Apartments

Mercer Island, Washington-based Legacy Partners Residential is also tackling a residential redevelopment project with the transformation of an abandoned industrial baking facility into Legacy at Pratt Park Apartments, a mixed-use residential project in the central district of Seattle.

Offering views of downtown Seattle, Elliott Bay and Mount Rainier, the site was prime for urban infill redevelopment. “Unique to this site was the opportunity to restore the historic neon Wonder Bread sign, which was a great way to respond to the community’s interest in preserving this local cultural icon and to help connect the project with the neighborhood,” says Christopher Meyer, development manager of Legacy Partners.

With completion scheduled for June 2009, the $75 million project will feature 200,000 square feet of residential space, 6,500 square feet of retail space and 5,000 live/work units.

Legacy paid close attention to the layout and design of the project to ensure a pleasing pedestrian experience and to bolster the urban environment.

“Urban environments require more active street-level uses, so we wanted to be strategic in how we located our uses,” explains Meyer. To serve the neighbor business needs, traditional retail spaces line the busy Jackson street side of the project, while a series of live/work units face 19th Street near Pratt Art Institute in an effort to attract small artisans seeking studio start-up space. The main residential portion faces the adjacent 5-acre Pratt Park to offer views onto the green space.

Project partners include a client of Blackrock Realty Advisors as an equity investor and Bank of America, with participation from People’s United Bank, as construction lender.

The aforementioned are just a sampling of the redevelopment projects currently in the Western development pipeline. As land costs and land availability continue to be concerns, developers are eager to tap into brownfield and infill opportunities. Many such projects will soon be emerging in the western market. In Colorado, Denver-based Etkin Johnson Group has partnered with Forest City Development to construct 441,000 square feet of commercial space at the Stapleton redevelopment site in Denver. Located at the former Stapleton International Airport site, the project, known as Enterprise Park at Stapleton, will offer three office and industrial buildings. The buildings will range in size from 139,695 to 153,000 square feet and feature 24 or 30-foot ceiling heights. Upcoming projects in California, include Transbay Transit Center, a transit-oriented redevelopment project being designed by Thornton Tomasetti Inc. and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in San Francisco; and Macerich’s transformation of Santa Monica Place, a 557,000-square-foot indoor shopping mall in Santa Monica, into a redesigned three-story outdoor shopping destination with 129 new stores and restaurants.

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