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TUESDAY
02.27.18 Volume 17 Issue 86
@smdailypress
@smdailypress
WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 MOTORCYCLE CRASH ....................PAGE 3 SEEING GLOBALLY, LOCALLY ......PAGE 4 HOMELESS BY CHOICE? ..............PAGE 5 MYSTERY PHOTO ............................PAGE 9
Santa Monica Daily Press
smdp.com
Proposal for former Sears building heads to Coastal Commission MATTHEW HALL Daily Press Editor
Plans to rehabilitate the former Sears building in Downtown Santa Monica will be before the Coastal Commission this week with staff recommending conditional approval of the redevelopment plans. Conditions of approval include a parking plan, limits on landscape design, environmental concerns and limits on future construction. The store at 302 Colorado Blvd. closed in April of 2017 following the sale of the location to a real estate investment company. In July of 2015, Sears created a new independent, publicly traded real estate investment trust named Seritage. The new company took control of 235 Sears/Kmart stores and joint ventures with several mall operators including Simon Property Group, General Growth Properties and the Santa Monica based Macerich Company. Under the terms of the $2.7 billion deal, 224 stores were leased back to Sears but Seritage has the right to end some of those leases and find new uses for the property. Seritage exercised that right for the Santa Monica location. Courtesy image
SITE MAP: The proposal before the Coastal Commission includes a layout for the proposed retail/food businesses on the first floor of the Sears building.
SEE PROPOSAL PAGE 7
Board seeking public input before Arrest in January murder case changing tax rules for rent control MATTHEW HALL According to SMPD, officers Daily Press Editor
KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
The Rent Control Board wants to hear from more landlords and tenants as they continue to tackle the thorny issue of tax and bond surcharges on rental rates. While the Board recently voted 5-0 in January to sunset the surcharges for new tenants and new property owners, the move was not retroactive and thousands of Santa Monica renters still pay the fees. The surcharges vary greatly from
property property and are often based on the building’s latest assessment. The median monthly surcharge is $20.73, however, some tenants have seen their pass-through costs skyrocket with Santa Monica’s booming real estate market. Under Proposition 13, a property’s taxes are re-assessed in the event of a sale or significant remodel. Tenants at a rent-controlled property at Ocean Avenue and Montana Avenue have seen their monthly surcharges surpass $100 a month. SEE RCB PAGE 6
The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) has made an arrest in connection with the January 1 murder of Santa Monica resident John Hautz. Roy Antonio Davis, a 26-year old man from Los Angeles, has been arrested and charged with the murder of the 88-year old Hautz. Davis was already in custody in Los Angeles for an unrelated robbery and will remain in County Jail, without bail, pending resolution of the new charges.
responded to a radio call for service in the 2300 block of 34th Street regarding an elderly male who appeared to be unconscious inside his residence on January 1. Officers determined the victim, later identified as Hautz, had died and a preliminary investigation suggested suspicious circumstances. The death was classified as a murder at that time. “Following extensive and thorough investigative efforts by SMPD Detectives, including forensic proSEE ARREST PAGE 6
DAVIS
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