The Street Seen: Parking Lot Development
3016 Main Street @ Marine
Propossed 2-story mixed-use building for NWC Marine and Main St.
Redcar seeks approval to replace the parking lot on Main St at the North West Corner of Marine St, with a 2-story, mixed-use creative office building. 3016 Main Street is the third (after 3008 Main Street, and 2671 Main Street) of the Main Street properties that Redcar purchased from C.O.C. Real Estate LLC in 2015.
The 7,290 square-foot project is comprised of ground-floor retail and second-floor business and professional / creative office. The site is Santa Monica zoned Mixed-Use Boulevard Low (MUBL). A Tier 1 MUBL zoned project has a maximum height of 2-story, 32-foot high, and an FAR of 1.25.
The 6,000 square-foot parking lot (APN 4288-007-007) and the former streetcar right-of-way (APN 4288-007-011) are to be combined into a single 10,750 square-foot lot. There is a covered, unenclosed, occupiable (but not open to the public) roof deck. The project architect, Belzberg, designed 2740 Main St - which also replaced a parking lot.
MUBL zoning is intended to facilitate broad, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks with local-serving uses. A Conditional Use Permit (CUP) is required to allow business and professional / creative office use in a new commercial development. A Conditional Use Permit is a discretionary permit, reviewed by the Planning Commission and appealable to City Council, that ensures the desired use is compatible with the General Plan, and surrounding land uses.
Between the parking lot and the Wells Fargo branch (a 1957 Bank of America) is the old street car right-of-way - which Redcar purchased (along with 3008 Main St) in 2015. There is no underground parking, and the required 23 parking spaces will be accommodated on the former streetcar right-of-way.
Directly north at 3008 Main St, Redcar renovated the former Shearon Hotel & Apartments building constructed in 1926 when Main St was widened. The north west Marine / Main St corner has been vacant for a long time - there was a gas station on the site from around 1950 to the mid-1960s.
The last attempt to develop the site was 40 years ago, in the early 1980s, when Russ Barnard was not able to obtain approval for a 4-story, 17,900 square-foot mixed-use building with underground parking on this site.
Updates
Redcar plans to redevelop a parking lot at Marine and Main  January 23, 2023
Architectural Review Board July 17, 2023
