[Editor’s Note: Following last week’s pullout of the Carlyle Group, the idea party and funding source of a potential plan to make over a southeastern neighborhood of Culver City, City Hall staffers issued the following report in advance of Monday night’s City Council meeting. Open for interpretation is the question of whether the city is urging the Council to end the project and shelve it temporarily or proceed as planned.]
Staff recommends the City Council: (1) Receive a presentation and discuss the proposed vision for a “Hospitality and Entertainment District Specific Plan,” which includes a signage component, and (2) direct the City Manager as deemed appropriate.
Background:
On April 30, Carlyle Realty Properties IV notified the City Manager that it has decided to sell its Culver City properties which include the DoubleTree Hotel, Pacifica Plaza Office Building, and the adjacent parking lot entitled for the Entrada project. Carlyle indicated that it had made significant investments in these properties and had hoped to further enhance their value with the proposed Hospitality and Entertainment District Specific Plan but that it was the opportune time to sell them.
Consequently, Carlyle will not participate in further planning for the area.
Carlyle had been spearheading the proposed Hospitality and Entertainment District Specific Plan, and their withdrawal could mean that there may no longer be sufficient non-city funding to conclude the necessary planning study and preparation of a Specific Plan.
Chronology:
Last June 9, the City Council discussed a proposal from Carlyle regarding the creation of a Freeway-Oriented Sign District along the 405 Freeway generally along commercially zoned property between the City’s northern and southern boundaries. During the meeting, the City Council directed the City Manager to examine several issues in greater detail regarding establishment of a sign district including:
- The proposed method to establish a Specific Plan for a sign district, including digital signs, and related environmental clearance;
- Goals and objectives of the Initial Proposal;
- Legal issues (including city indemnity) relating to the Initial Proposal;
- Costs and funding related to the creation of a specific plan for the Initial Proposal; and
- Public outreach methods and visioning.
On Nov. 10, the City Council received a presentation regarding Carlyle’s proposal for a “Hospitality and Entertainment District Specific Plan” (including a Sign District Component) along commercial frontage adjacent to the 405 Freeway between the northern and southern city boundaries.
Components of the proposed Hospitality and Entertainment District include:
- A specific plan that focuses on the area’s unique freeway adjacent location and character with emphasis on the hospitality and entertainment industry and the area’s physical and economic area improvements.
- Creation of a new hotel-mixed use development district with thematic signs to create area identity and a new gateway to the city.
- A walkable commercial district providing new workforce housing opportunities.
- Coordination with major stakeholders to fund the project using a variety of funding tools, including infrastructure financing districts, public/private partnerships, and private reinvestment.
- Identification of potential areas to permit signs through specific development standards.
- Sign revenue sharing with the city to promote economic development and to provide a replacement for former Culver City Redevelopment Agency funding lost as a result of the dissolution of redevelopment agencies by the state of California in 2012.
- Funding of streetscape, bike and pedestrian amenities, street graphics, and similar improvements to help rebrand the area and create a new mixed use development neighborhood.
- Design standards for locating freeway-oriented signs based upon orientation, lot size, and distance from freeway, and establishment of a signage design theme to create a unique place and integrate signs with buildings and surroundings.
- Use of the signs for digital art during non-advertising periods, featuring digital artists and programming of digital art images for individual signs and collectively throughout the proposed district. Digital artwork to be coordinated among sign participants creating continuous visual displays.