14 sites in Santa Monica, CA, including 3030 Nebraska Avenue and 1433 Euclid Street
Between September 30 and October 13, 2022, in the two weeks before HCD certified Santa Monica's housing element on October 14, affiliates of WS Communities filed builder's remedy preliminary applications for 14 sites. Together they proposed 4,176 units, 836 of them affordable, in buildings of 10 to 18 stories; the largest, at 3030 Nebraska Avenue, proposed 1,601 units. The 16 builder's remedy filings made by all applicants in the city totaled 4,260 units. On May 9, 2023 the City Council voted 7-0 to approve a settlement. WS suspended 13 of the 14 applications and permanently withdrew three sites in residential zones. It agreed to refile the other ten as zoning-compliant density bonus projects, with 15 percent of base units affordable and allowed off-site. In return the city raised the downtown parking maximum from 0.5 to 1.0 space per unit and committed to decide completeness within 30 days and approval within 60, and Ellis Act and other suits between the city and WS's parent, NMS Properties, were settled or dismissed. Three tenants at 1242 10th Street received a right of return. The settlement excluded 1433 Euclid Street, whose outcome is not documented in the sources reviewed. In January 2024 The Registry reported that WS had handed 28 Los Angeles-area buildings and sites worth $1.1 billion to lenders through deeds in lieu of foreclosure. Successor owners have since filed density bonus projects under the settlement terms, including a proposed 34-story tower at 3030 Nebraska Avenue (2024) and 23-story and nine-story buildings that received CEQA exemptions in 2026.
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Filings for 14 sites continue through Oct. 13, 2022.
City of Santa MonicaCertification closes the window for new builder's remedy applications.
City of Santa MonicaWS suspends 13 of 14 applications and will refile ten as zoning-compliant density bonus projects.
Santa Monica LookoutThe Registry reports deeds in lieu of foreclosure on 28 buildings and sites (date of report).
The RegistryThe proposal has 172 units.
The RegistryMadison Realty Capital, which took over much of the NMS portfolio, proposes 497 units, 74 of them affordable, plus 298 more.
Santa Monica Daily PressSMHC 23 LLC proposes a four-story building with 23 deed-restricted units at 1238 Seventh Street to meet another project's off-site requirement.
City of Santa MonicaProject 25ENT-0189: 124 units plus 15 off-site affordable units under the settlement.
CEQAnetNine stories and 129 units, with four affordable on site and nine off site at 1238 Seventh Street.
CEQAnetProposed an 18-story, 172-unit tower at 1437 Sixth Street (2024) and a 34-story tower at 3030 Nebraska Avenue (2024).
Filed 14 builder's remedy applications in 2022 and settled with the city in May 2023. President Scott Walter declined an interview with CalMatters.
"We go from the Wild West into not only a safe harbor, but an expedited safe harbor" (May 2023). Also: "The builder's remedy can be a strategic ploy in order to potentially leverage a third way."
Diana Gorden: "This proposed settlement is essentially a mega development agreement - the biggest one in the city's history."
"I don't believe for a minute that they ever planned to build all those projects."
Approved a settlement under which WS suspended 13 of 14 builder's remedy applications in exchange for expedited review of zoning-compliant projects.
"We are doing this to get rid of the builder's remedy projects."
On the city's odds in litigation: "The chances of prevailing are nebulous."
The city disputed the applications' validity and then negotiated a settlement that suspended 13 of the 14 builder's remedy applications in exchange for expedited review of ten zoning-compliant density bonus projects.
The settlement required refiled projects to meet zoning height and floor area limits; the Lookout reported a downtown cap of 84 feet. Successor filings under state density bonus law propose 18 to 34 stories.