Santa Monica Real Estate: Civic Auditorium Committee Selected
Recently the Santa Monica City Council chose a nine-person group to help save the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, now 55 years old.
The 3,000-seat Auditorium was once a well-known and highly respected concert hall boasting legendary performances by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Now sadly, this Santa Monica real estate treasure is in disrepair and officials estimate it will take at least $50 million to get the Auditorium back up and running in the same fashion again.
The nine-person committee made up of representatives of the City’s four major commissions, two realtors and the school district’s director of facilities, has been tasked with this problem. They must re-evaluate the City’s Santa Monica real estate plans for the building and the 10 acres of land that surrounds it.
The City Council appointed Philip Orosco, a real estate investor with Pacshore Partners; Carey Wayne Upton, the school district’s director of facility use; Jodi Summers, a realtor with Sotheby’s International Realty; Fred Deni, the owner of Back on Broadway and Linda Bozung, a retired land use lawyer. The five appointees will serve alongside Phil Brock, representing the Recreation and & Parks Commission; Yeo Katagiri, representing the Arts Commission; Frank Gruber, representing the Planning Commission and Nina Fresco, representing the Landmarks Commission.
Prior to this, Santa Monica wanted to invest around $50 million of Redevelopment Agency (RDA) money into renovating the building, but after the State passed legislation killing RDAs throughout California, the plans were put on hold indefinitely. Sadly, without an immediate source of capital for the project, the City had no choice but to close down the Auditorium in June to save the $2 million annual subsidy required to keep it open.
Since June, City officials have started asking residents for ideas on what they would like to see done to help preserve the Auditorium. No one response has held the majority as they include for example putting a bond measure on the ballot and leasing the land around the Auditorium for cultural purposes that could also subsidize operations.
One thing is for sure, selecting a committee to oversee this is a positive step forward to finding a solution that satisfies the people of Santa Monica and helps return this Santa Monica real estate treasure to its former glory.
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