Real Estate Information Archive

Here's the real estate activity in the Westside for March 16, 2012.

The Santa Monica City Council got a peek last week at initial design concepts for the Colorado Esplanade project that will connect the eventual terminus of the Expo Light Rail line with downtown SaMo. According to a staff report (pdf) presented to council earlier this month, the project will deliver "major urban design improvements at the Downtown Expo Station Plaza and along Colorado Avenue between 4th Street and Ocean Avenue." The project design is the work of Berkeley-based Peter Walker Partners, which signed a $2.2 million contract for the gig last year.

The new proposal includes a substantial reconfiguration of Colorado Avenue: "there will be one lane of traffic in each direction on Colorado Avenue from 17th to 5th Street. Between 4th and 5th Streets, Colorado will be westbound-only with one through-lane and a dedicated left-turn lane at 4th Street. Existing eastbound traffic will be eliminated." In addition to that vehicle traffic reconfiguration, bike lanes in both directions will be added: "Bike Lanes in both directions connect the Downtown Station and the Pier; a proposed bike connection through the 4th Court alley proposes to connect the Downtown Station to the bike lanes on Broadway; and the Main to 2nd Street realignment connects the Main Street bike lane directly to the new Bike Center and Downtown."

Back in September, the SaMo Planning Commission voiced concern about the impact of pedestrian traffic on the flow of vehicles through the neighborhood. A Santa Monica Mirror article on the hearing last week describes the current proposal as "a more simplified and organized 'flow of pedestrians, vehicles and bicycles.'" Although reaction at the hearing was mostly positive, councilmembers did ask for some improvements to the designs--Terry O'Day didn't like the amount of hardscaping currently in the plan, and O'Day and Kevin McKeown both lamented the lack of bus stops in the plan area.

The hearing was the first study session for the council, so no vote was taken.

If you believe you're paying too much property tax because the county has overestimated the value of your home, you can seek a reduction. Here are tips on how to do this:

•If you believe the assessment was unfair in the past, contact your county assessor's office or visit its website as soon as possible. At this time of year, many assessors are in the process of updating property values, so it's good to express your concerns before the new assessment is finalized.

•Be cautious of any mail, email or phone solicitations by people or companies offering to contest your property valuation for a fee. You can usually do it yourself, except for a fee in some counties to file an appeal. In the past, groups have sent out property tax adjustment mailings that were made to look like government documents. Beware.

•Many assessments are based on "comps" — recent sale prices of similar-size homes in your area. If you suspect that inappropriate comps were used, use websites such as Yahoo Real Estate or Zillow.com to look for comps that might be more apt.

•If your home has suffered more than $10,000 worth of damage from a fire or other disaster, you may be eligible in California for a lower taxable value. Contact your assessor's office to get an application for the discount.

•If you get turned down for a reduction, you can take your case to your county's assessment appeals board, a panel independent of the assessor's office. For information on how to file an appeal, including filing deadlines, call your county assessor's office.

Calling all those born on February 29 -- the first 100 people who can show that February 29th is their birthday with a valid id on Wednesday will receive two complimentary tickets to see Cirque du Soleil's "OVO" that night at the Santa Monica Pier.

Just head on down to the pier between 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 29, to take advantage of the promotion (see santamonicapier.org for full details).

This fun-filled afternoon at the pier will feature a special appearance by "OVO" from Cirque du Soleil, free merry-go-round rides, two-for-one pier deals, and the Radio Disney road crew.

“The Santa Monica Pier is excited to celebrate Leap Day by providing a special pier-wide experience for all visitors, said Steve Gibson, Interim Director of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation. "The pier retailers, OVO by Cirque du Soleil, and our non-profit organization teamed together to create the Leap Day Celebration."

The world-famous Santa Monica Pier offers a variety of entertainment and shopping including Pacific Park amusement park, Heal the Bay Aquarium, an historic 1922 Carousel plus specialty shops/carts, eateries, and several full-service restaurants.

The Pier is open year-round, and parking is available for a fee on a first come, first served basis.

Come early March, what was previously known as The Hideout (smack dab between The Hungry Cat and Giorgio Baldi) on W. Channel Road in Santa Monica will undergo a facelift and emerge in April as SHOREbar. Behind this project is a one John Terzian of the.h.wood.group (h.wood, Tea Room, Las Palmas), and this project marks the hospitality firm's first endeavor on the westside.

PR explains that SHOREbar's "vibe and decor will have an elegant New England type feel mixed with a beach vibe (think a Martha's Vineyard house meets the James Perse Malibu store)" and designer/stylist Rosetta Getty will consult on this aesthetic. An "upscale cocktail program" is in the works, too.

Your monthly mortgage bill soon could get easier to understand, and it wouldn't change each time your loan is sold to a new servicer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has developed a proposed standardized mortgage servicer statement designed to provide clear information about the loan on a single page.

The prototype released Monday included a breakdown of how much of the monthly payment went to principal, interest and escrow. The form also detailed the outstanding principal, maturity date, prepayment penalty and, for adjustable-rate mortgages, the time when the interest rate could change.

"This information will help consumers stay on top of their mortgage costs and hold their mortgage servicers accountable for fixing errors that crop up," said Richard Cordray, the agency's director. "Given the widespread mortgage servicing problems we've seen over the past few years, consumers need clear disclosures they can count on."

Although many servicers already provide such information on their monthly statements, there are no industrywide standards, the agency said.

Such standards are a good idea, and initial reaction from servicers to the agency's proposal was positive, said Rod J. Alba, senior counsel in the mortgage markets division at the American Bankers Assn.

The agency posted a working draft of the standardized statement on its website, http://www.consumerfinance.gov to solicit input from the public and industry before a version of the form formally is proposed this summer.

Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said simplified mortgage statements would help resolve the broad mortgage servicing problems that were at the heart of last week's federal and state settlement with five of the nation's largest banks over botched foreclosure paperwork.

The consumer agency is required under the 2010 financial reform law to put new mortgage servicing rules in place to help consumers, Cordray said. The law has specific requirements for mortgage statements, including a phone number and email address for the customer to get information about the loan, as well as information about housing counselors.

The new mortgage statement is the latest consumer financial paperwork the agency is trying to simplify.

In May, it released two prototypes for shorter, easier-to-understand disclosure forms that lenders would have to give home buyers before they close on a mortgage. The agency has been receiving comments on the forms and tested them last month in Philadelphia.

And in December, the agency proposed a simplified credit card agreement form to make it easier to understand interest rate terms and comparison shop.

The agency also is developing a new disclosure rule for hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages that would require consumers to be notified months before their first interest rate increase, as well as to be provided with a good-faith estimate of the new monthly payment.

Borrowers seeking a review of their foreclosures for errors committed by banks have been given an extra three months to apply for the free federal program, which may result in compensation.

Federal bank regulators said in a statement Tuesday that they have moved the deadline to July 31 from April 30 this year to encourage greater participation in the independent foreclosure review program.

Borrowers are eligible if the property in question was their main home, was anywhere in the foreclosure process during 2009 or 2010, and was foreclosed on by one of 14 financial firms that settled a bank regulator investigation into their foreclosure practices last April.

The 14 firms — all major providers of customer service on home loans — were required to hire independent consultants to identify borrowers injured by errors, misrepresentations or other mistakes. Those reviews are underway.

The settlement with the Federal Reserve and other regulators also entitled certain borrowers to make their own requests for independent reviews of their foreclosures for problems. If the review turns up financial injury, the borrower may receive compensation or another remedy.

The bank regulator settlement and foreclosure reviews are separate from the recent $25-billion settlement reached by five major banks, 49 states and several federal agencies. Borrowers compensated as part of the latter settlement may still seek to recover damages by using the foreclosure reviews.

A spokesman for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasury Department agency that regulates national banks and savings and loans, said the servicers sent letters to more than 4.3 million eligible borrowers by the end of December. As of Feb. 5, nearly 90,000 borrowers had requested reviews, a Federal Reserve spokeswoman said.

The OCC spokesman, Bryan Hubbard, said borrowers' complaints have involved such issues as the handling of loan modifications, mortgage balance discrepancies, timeliness of payments and improper fees.

Participating mortgage servicers include: America's Servicing Co., Aurora Loan Services, BAC Home Loans Servicing, Bank of America, Beneficial, Chase, Citibank, CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, Countrywide, EMC, Everbank/Everhome Mortgage Co.,  Financial Freedom, GMAC Mortgage, HFC, HSBC, IndyMac Mortgage Services, MetLife Bank, National City Mortgage, PNC Mortgage, Sovereign Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia Mortgage; Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo; and Wilshire Credit Corp.

For more information, borrowers can call (888) 952-9105 or visit the Federal Reserve or Comptroller of the Currency website.

Today is the last day to bid on the Los Angeles Dodgers! To preview the highly-anticipated ownership change (in case you haven't heard, last owner Frank McCourt took the team into bankruptcy), the LA Times has a recap of the bidders who have made public their intentions to buy the team.

The list is well-stocked with local developers and real estate investors, and based on the type of weight the people on this list throw around, it's hard to imagine how McCourt managed to get his paws on the team in the first place.

However, McCourt is a real estate guy too--he originally made his money developing parking lots in Boston--and he had hoped to develop the land around Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, presenting a big plan called the Next 50 back in 2008.

The Dodgers sale won't necessarily include the stadium's parking lots (since they're owned by a separate McCourt company), which means McCourt could potentially build on them. Or the lots could sell with the team, in which case, who knows what'll happen? (A spokesperson for at least one bidder (Rick Caruso) has said he has no intentions to develop the land.) To give you an idea of what each possible owner might bring to the table, here's a rundown on them and some of their most notable projects.

1) Magic Johnson -- Possibly LA's most beloved basketball player, Johnson also co-founded Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund. CJUF has recently finished the 38 live/work townhouses known as 940 E. 2nd Street (formerly the Barn Lofts) and closed the funding gap for the long-awaited One Santa Fe project. Johnson is teaming with Stan Kasten, the former president of the Washington Nationals.

2) Rick Caruso -- The perennial tease never quite manages to run for mayor of LA, but he developed infamous malls The Grove and The Americana. He's partnering with recent Dodgers manager Joe Torre.

3) Tom Barrack -- Named the "world's greatest real estate investor" on the cover of Fortune magazine in 2007, Barrack offers no shortage of interesting local connections: his fund, Colony Capital, owns Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch and part-owns Miramax, and was co-founded by former Hollywood bad-boy Rob Lowe.

4) Ron Burkle -- Burkle isn't really a real estate guy--he got his start in grocery stores and is now mostly an investor--but he did buy the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis House in 2011 for $4.5 million.

5) Peter O'Malley -- Owner of the Dodgers from 1979 until 1998, O'Malley hatched a plan to build an NFL stadium in Chavez Ravine in 1996. Someone, somewhere is still trying to make that happen.

6) Alan Casden -- Casden was the original developer of Movietown Plaza in West Hollywood and the Third Street Dress for Less project before losing them last year in a breakup. He's also behind the Palazzo Westwood

Just a few days ago, the Santa Monica Playhouse on Fourth Street was named home to one of the “10 best New Year’s Eve events in Los Angeles” by LA Weekly.  The venue has been a mainstay in local theatrical arts for nearly 50 years, hosting actor workshops and educational programs for young students while also supporting many stage thespians developing their respective careers.

The future did not always look so bright for the Playhouse. The 2012 calendar of events was in danger of cancellation as the venue was struggling to makes ends meet this month. With a light calendar on its docket as of Jan. 4, the Playhouse was in need of $15,000 to continue operations this month.

Though some programming, such as the productions of “A Carlin Home Companion” and “Pentagon Papers”, as well as Family Theater series, may still be found on the Playhouse’s January 2012 calendar, the venue is still in a holding pattern until its finances are in the black.

According to one of the venue’s co-directors, Chris DeCarlo, the Playhouse did not meet its $15,000 goal as of Jan. 4, but enough money was raised to keep operations running a little while longer.

“We didn’t raise all the money we wanted to raise, but we came very close. We’re going to keep going. We are not in great shape, but it’s not disastrous,” DeCarlo told The Mirror. “We’ve been struggling for almost 10 years now. We were doing great for the 80s and 90s. It goes in cycles. We’ve had good times and bad times.”

He added that the Playhouse’s recent economic struggles are partially attributed to the recent economic struggles endured by the nation as a whole, yet DeCarlo also observed the theater market has become increasing saturated in the past 20 years, with more playhouses now in operation than ever before.

He also observed the Playhouse audience has been mostly seniors, which not only affects ticket revenue due to discounted tickets, but also means there is a smaller pool of supporters.

“Theater is not something the younger generations are frequenting. We have to constantly reinvent ourselves,” DeCarlo said. “We’ve got a benefits program – it’s helping us augment our income. Financially, we also have seasonable rises and drops. January is traditionally our worst month of the year.”

Should everything work out, DeCarlo hopes to have the Playhouse looking beyond the immediate future as the venue is in the midst of developing a five-year plan to, ideally, keep its finances in the black without having to immensely rely on emergency fundraisers (such as the current one) or bailouts by City Hall (which happened a year ago).

As the Playhouse inches ever so close to its immediate financial goals – the Playhouse did not announce its most up-to-date numbers – the venue may indeed avoid witnessing its final curtain call anytime soon.

“We got some really good programs coming up this year,” DeCarlo said, adding that the next Family Theater series will feature “The Adventures of Red Riding Hood.”

“We’re humbled by the fact we’ve had so much support in these hard times,” he said. “I don’t know how to thank [the public] enough. It’s a gift they are providing for the community. It seems people with less are giving more.

Donations may still be made to the Playhouse, either by calling the venue at 310.394.9779 or by visiting its website, santamonicaplayhouse.com.

The Playhouse is located at 1201 Fourth Street, just south of Wilshire Boulevard.

Large steam-coated window panes, low-watt bare bulb lighting, and mad amounts of tartines, charcuterie, coffee, and wine make this new spot a go-to for meeting the mistress by light or night.
600 Venice Blvd. (Abbot Kinney Blvd.), Venice