The Street Seen: The Shores
2700 & 2800 Neilson Way
In 1964 - 1968, as part of a City of Santa Monica urban renewal project, the twin 17-story “The Shores” towers are built.
The twin 17-story “The Shores” towers1 have their origins with the Santa Monica Redevelopment Agency (SMRA) - a city public body created in 1957 and tasked with urban renewal.
The SMRA selects a 45-acre Ocean Park beach strip (West of Neilson from Ocean Park Blvd south to the city border) as its first re-development project. In 1961, with a $2.5 MM loan backed by the Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency, SMRA begins purchasing and clearing property designated as “blighted.”
A joint venture between the Kern County Land Company2 and Del E. Webb Construction Company is selected to build eight high-rise apartment buildings. In 1965, the Kern-Webb partnership acquires the lot on which “The Shores” are to be built. The two identical 17-story buildings, each with 261,681 sq-ft and 266 units, are designed by Welton Becket & Associates and built by Del Webb in 1964 - 1968.
The two towers, identical in shape and colors, were typical examples of high-modernist aesthetics. The towers also included a post office, delicatessen snack bar, liquor store, beauty parlor, and a three-level underground parking garage, to provide a total environment that solved the residents’ daily requirements. In other words, the towers provided the benefits of living by the ocean without having to experience life in a “substandard” neighborhood.
“The Shores” leasing demand is lower than anticipated, and in January 1971, Kern-Webb sells the property to Santa Monica Shores Limited Partnership (David S. Rosen and Lawrence Kates) for $14 MM.
When stringent Rent Control is adopted by Santa Monica voters in 1979, the investment value of apartment buildings drops. However effective January 1999 under Costa-Hawkins, Santa Monica landlords are permitted to raise rents to market levels when units are vacated (vacancy decontrol).
In May 1999, Brentwood-based Douglas Emmett, owner and operator of multiple class-A office buildings and apartment communities in Southern California and Honolulu, acquires “The Shores” for $95 MM. As part of the deal, when the property is sold, well over 100 of the 532 units are vacant.
The two-tower site consists of a single 815 ft x 265 ft (215,975 sq-ft) Los Angeles County Assessor parcel (APN 4288-020-036). The site is now zoned Ocean Park High Density Residential (OP4) which has a maximum of 3 stories.