12-Year-Old Shopping Center Gets Big Remodel Before Being Built
Written by 991KBU on January 22, 2020
The largest shopping center ever built in Malibu got endorsed by the Malibu Planning Commission last night.
It’s the La Paz Ranch Center … a two story shopping … restaurant and dining complex slated for the vacant lots between the Malibu Library and the new Whole Foods Market in downtown Malibu.
The big project was the subject of a bitter fight 12 years ago … but got a green light from the city council back then.
The 2008 economic recession put La Paz on ice … the land was sold to a new team … and the plans were radically redrawn.
That’s what came before the Planning Commission last night.
Developer Brian Golden.
NEWSCART 74897 BRIAN GOLDEN
“Our changes keep the same floor area and density … keep the same mix of uses … keep the same number of parking spaces … keep the same setbacks .. enhance the landscaPing and the beauty of the project.”
The architecture has gone from quaint Malibu ranch to modern … lots of glass.
The three small parking garages have gone to one large underground parking garage.
And the central vehcile driveway and motor court from the previous concept has been replaced by a pedestrian promenade … linking outward to the existing stores and development in the Cross Creek shopping areas.
One of the architects explained.
NEWSCART 74898 LA PAZ ARCHITECT
“Here is a plan of this area.
“On the left … the approved project
“Which really … cars are circulating in and out of garage entries and exit points … across pedestrian walkways near the front of the project.
“Walkways and roadways are enar each other.
“We’ve tried to redesign this entrance experience to separate the roadway from the pedestrian entry.
“So we have one vehicular entry at la Paz Lane … and then a dedicated pedestrian entry so we are trying to bring people over from the Civic Center area.”
The rest of the Civic Center area … how will La Paz affect that???
The new development will be huge … an addition of 112 thousand square feet of retail and office areas to a downtown Malibu that already sees many vacant stores.
And that worries some planning commissioners … like Steve Uhring.
NEWSCART 74894 UHRING EMPTY RETAIL
“I walk across the street to the Lumberyard and that’s empty … or parts of it are empty.
“So my concern says … if he can’t fill this thing … allright? … or if the current results we have got in these shopping centers are gong to be carried over to what he is doing … we’re going to be getting a lot of empty spaces.
And I don’t think that’s good.
“I don’t think that’s good for the residents.”
The answer is that the City of Malibu does not tell dictate market conditions to commercial developers … there is no city rule against building space for which there is no demand.
There were only a few voices raised last night against the project … probably because it was approved 12 years ago.
And that was the argument made by at least one Malibu resident … speaking against the plan.
Katrina Vinograd was one.
NEWSCART 74895 KATRINA OPPOSES
“Who are we building this shopping center to serve?
“Is it the population of 13,000 that resides within the city?
“Or is it the millions of tourists who visit the city daily during peak season months?
“… My pet peeve with shopping malls are the amounts of empty storefronts”.
“Greedy landlords demanding high rates that only giant corporations can provide result in a generic monoculture that I find hard t believe any Malibu resident supports.”
The relocation of the vehicular entry and exit … one driveway serving the entire complex … worried one planning commissioner …
Kraig Hill had this exchange with an architect about that new intersection … right next to the Malibu Library.
NEWSCART 74091 HILL BOTTLENECK
COMMISSIONER: ”You are going to have a bottleneck right there at the intersection of the driveway and Civic Center Way and car is coming in and out of the driveway trying to use that center lane at the same time in the same space.
ARCHITECT: “The peak trip flows are never high enough to create a bottlenecking.”
Remember that statement in a few years.
The plan revisions do not change the fact… that 112 thousand square feet of two story commercial structure with an underground parking garage is coming next to the library.
The Planning Commission did work out some conditions on things like outdoor lighting … delivery truck schedules and other quality of life matters.
The La Paz owners readily agreed to abide by those.
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