Santa Monica Property Blog

SANTA MONICA REAL ESTATE IS IN THE TOP 10

SANTA MONICA REAL ESTATE IS IN THE TOP 10
 

Oddly…the news is not all bad for local real estate. Although the median price of single-family detached resale homes in California dropped 32% while home sales rose 2.5% year-over-year in April, according to the California Association of Realtors 0f California. In April, Santa Monica made the top 10 list of highest median home price in the state.
 

HIGHEST PRICE HOUSING IN CALIFORNIA
 

1.      Saratoga, at $1.48 million
2.      Manhattan Beach, at $1.37 million
3.      Los Gatos, at $1.34 million
4.      Santa Barbara, $1.07 million
5.      Cupertino, $918,500
6.      San Carlos, $885,500
7.      Danville, $829,000
8.      Redwood City, $817,500
9.      San Clemente, $809,500
10.    Santa Monica, $780,000

  Get the whole story @ http://www.inman.com/news/2008/05/27/california-median-home-price-falls-32#comment-5379
 

THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION NEW ENDANGERED LIST - NEW YORK’S LOWER EAST SIDE, CALIFORNIA PARKS + KANSAS BRICK SCHOOLHOUSE

THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION NEW ENDANGERED LIST -  
NEW YORK’S LOWER EAST SIDE, CALIFORNIA PARKS + KANSAS BRICK SCHOOLHOUSE
 

National Trust for Historic Preservation put the New York neighborhood and the California parks on its list of this year’s most endangered places
 

Straight out of http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/05/20/endangered.places.ap/index.html
    
WASHINGTON (AP) — Budget cuts can be as damaging as bulldozers to pieces of American history, a preservation group said Tuesday in issuing a new list of endangered places that includes the jammed, noisy streets of New York’s Lower East Side and the peaceful parkland of California.
 

The National Trust is trying to have New York’s Lower East Side declared a landmark district, which could mean restrictions on building height and density.
 

 The National Trust for Historic Preservation on Tuesday put the New York neighborhood and the California parks on its list of this year’s most endangered places, along with an old brick schoolhouse in Kansas that launched one of the most important legal cases in U.S. history: Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 desegregation ruling from the Supreme Court.
 

“Preservation efforts have really moved beyond individual buildings to neighborhoods, communities and context,” said Richard Moe, president of the group.
 

“Most people think the threat only comes from the wrecking ball, but that’s not always true,” said Moe. “It can be underfunding of a resource, it can be neglect, it can be inappropriate development.”
 

Decades ago, the overcrowded tenement buildings of the Lower East Side were considered a blight on city life, even though they were the first home for generations of new Americans arriving at Ellis Island.
 

Now, preservationists think the danger lies in new luxury high-rises sprouting up in the once downtrodden area. The National Trust is trying to have the area declared a landmark district, which could mean restrictions on building height and density.
 

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission surveyed 2,300 buildings in the area last year and it is now trying to determine which buildings — and which parts of the neighborhood — should be given landmark status.
 

In Topeka, Kansas, the broken windows and overgrown foliage of Sumner Elementary School offer little evidence that it was the impetus for perhaps the most important legal decision in U.S. race history.
 

The father of Linda Brown sued after she was refused admittance in 1950 to the school only seven blocks from her home. The NAACP eventually took her case to the Supreme Court and the court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that had allowed decades of post-slavery segregation.
 

The school has been vacant since 1996, and is now owned by the city. Local officials have sought a developer to renovate it, but that effort has stalled. The National Trust is hoping the building could be transformed to housing, a community center or a library.
 

That small neglected piece of history is dwarfed in size by one of the other places on the list, the California park system, with almost 300 parks, dozens of which have historic designations.
 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled back this month on a plan to close some of those sites in an effort to solve the state’s budget problems. Preservationists welcome the decision, but say the ongoing financial struggles are still dangerous to parklands that have already been starved of about $1 billion in deferred maintenance over the years.
 

Schwarzenegger’s turnabout “is a very hopeful sign, but it’s not yet accomplished so we still think these parks are potentially still at risk,” said Moe.
 

The other sites that made the group’s 2008 list of endangered places are: Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Charity Hospital and the surrounding neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana; Great Falls Portage in Great Falls, Montana; Hangar One, Moffett Field in Santa Clara County, California; Michigan Avenue Streetwall in Chicago; Peace Bridge neighborhood in Buffalo, New York; The Statler Hilton Hotel in Dallas; and the museums and gardens of Vizcaya in Miami and Bonnet House in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit group founded in 1949.

FARMERS MARKET LITIGATION SETTLED AGAINST THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA FOR $21 MILLION

FARMERS MARKET LITIGATION SETTLED AGAINST THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA FOR $21 MILLION
 

It was  July 16, 2003 when George Russell Weller plowed his car through our beloved Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers’ Market on Arizona Avenue – killing and/or injuring a slew of innocent shoppers. Weller was charged with 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for the  crash that also injured 63 people.
 

In October 2006,  Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson sentenced an 89-year-old George Russell Weller to probation in People vs. George Russell Weller.
 

On May 20th, 2008, the Santa Monica City Council voted to settle the Farmers Market litigation for a total payment of $21m to the plaintiffs.  This litigation involved the consolidated claims of dozens of victims….the same day as jury selection for the civil suit commenced
 

Dozens of victims sued numerous defendants, including Mr. Weller, the City, the Bayside Corporation and one nonprofit organization connected to the market. 
 

Geoff Wells, a partner with Greene Broillet & Wheeler, a firm that represented 18 plaintiffs in their wrongful death stated that: “There is no doubt that Mr. Weller played a hand in the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market tragedy. But, the City of Santa Monica and Bayside District Corporation played a major role because it never installed barricades that would have protected the public’s safety on that dreadful day. It needs to step up to the plate and take their share of personal responsibility for what happened.”
 

The City’s settlement payment will be made with insurance proceeds.  In return for the settlement payment, all of the plaintiffs will dismiss their claims against both the City and the Bayside District Corporation. 
 

Deputy City Attorney Jeanette Schactner said of the settlement: “Considering the unique circumstances of this case, including the horrific loss and injuries, this is a good result for all concerned.  The City believes that it has no liability.  But, in a case this big, trial results are difficult to predict.  The settlement eliminates the risks and difficulties of trial and allows the victims, their families, and the City to put this tragedy behind them and move forward.”  
 

Attorneys for the victims contended that the City of Santa Monica and the Bayside District Corporation were negligent and reckless in conducting and regulating the weekly Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. They alleged that the City of Santa Monica’s and Bayside District Corporation’s acts or failures to act created the dangerous conditions that enabled George Russell Weller to drive his car unimpeded through the heart of the market, killing ten people and injuring at least 63 others on the afternoon of July 16, 2003.
 

The upcoming civil trial is similar to the one just settled. This suit will focus on three remaining lawsuits where the victims are suing both Weller and the Bayside District Corp., a public-private company that manages the downtown area, including the strips of Arizona Avenue and Second Street where the market is held every Wednesday. The remaining cases represent about a dozen plaintiffs.
 

info sources:

http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/litigation/3980551-1.html
http://www.smdp.com/article/articles/2904/1/A-healing-Santa-Monica-reacts-to-Weller-verdict/Page1.html
http://www.knbc.com/news/9966665/detail.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_June_16/ai_n6071902
http://www.smdp.com/site/archives/052008.pdf
 http://www.smgov.net/news/releases/archive/2008/cmo20080521.htm

LOS ANGELES REAL ESTATE – SO VALUABLE + GETTING MORE AFFORDABLE – COULD IT BE INVESTOR HEAVEN?

LOS ANGELES REAL ESTATE – SO VALUABLE + GETTING MORE AFFORDABLE – COULD IT BE INVESTOR HEAVEN? 

If you own a home here in SoCal, you’re lucky. The latest report by the National Association of Home Builders announces that for the first quarter of 2008, Los Angeles remains the least affordable housing market with a population above 500,000. Los Angeles beat out the other top contenders, New York City; San Francisco; Salinas; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Napa, Calif.; Miami; Sana Ana, Calif.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Nassau, N.Y. 

Los Angeles holds the prize for most precious real estate for the 14th consecutive quarter in first-quarter 2008, while Indianapolis remained the easiest to affordable major U.S. housing market for the 11th straight quarter… 

And here’s the interesting twist - Los Angeles is getting more affordable…a new report from the California Association of Realtors found that housing affordability for first-time buyers was 44% in the first quarter, compared with 26% for the same quarter last year and 33% in fourth-quarter 2007. 

Values remain high, but prices are coming down. Could this be investor heaven? 

Info courtesy of: 

http://www.inman.com/news/2008/05/20/california-markets-top-list-least-affordable-homes 

http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?sectionID=135&newsID=7116 

How did Santa Monica get it’s name?

How did Santa Monica get it’s name?

The legend that is shared by the Santa Monica Conservancy tells the story how on Saint Monica’s Day, May 4, the day before Cinco de Mayo in 1769 a posse of a padre and some Spanish Soldiers were refreshing themselves at a spring (what is believed to now be Wilshire and Sawtelle), when one of the soldiers remarked that the waters of the springs reminded him of the tears that St. Monica had shed for her straying son, Augustine, before his conversion. The City founders heard this story…and now our fair city is named
 

The Santa Monica Pier was delivered as the terminus of a Southern California rail system. According to the Santa Monica Conservancy city founders had dreams of building the longest wharf in the world, in an attempt to compete with San Pedro to be the Port of Los Angeles.  The maritime industry didn’t develop, and in 1893, the long wharf was demolished to make a series of pleasure piers, including our municple pier.

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SF Mayor Proposes Green Building Requirement

SF Mayor Proposes Green Building Requirement
 

SAN FRANCISCO-Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed an ordinance that would make San Francisco the city with the most stringent green building requirements in the nation. The ordinance requires developers and renovators of larger residential and commercial buildings to achieve progressively higher levels of LEED certification from the US Green Building Council in the coming years.
 

 ”We’ve got to stop playing within the margins and get serious about addressing our reliance on fossil fuels,” said Newsom during an announcement of the ordinance at 555 Mission St., Tishman Speyer’s under-construction office building, which is expected to achieve LEED Silver certification.
 

“A lot of people don’t realize that their homes and businesses also create a major carbon footprint, so today, by proposing these strict green building standards for our city, we’re saying enough is enough. It’s time to tackle global warming and climate change on all fronts.”
 

 If approved, the ordinance would require large projects–commercial and residential projects over 25,000 sf or 75 feet in height–to meet the base level of LEED certification starting in 2008. Large commercial projects would have to achieve LEED Silver certification starting in 2009 and LEED Gold staring in 2010. Large residential projects would have to achieve LEED Silver starting in 2010.
 

Mid-sized buildings would have to complete a LEED checklist but would not be required to achieve any LEED credits or points (the basis for the rating system) until 2009. Starting then, mid-size commercial buildings would have to achieve three LEED credits. The bar would be raised to four points in 2010, six points in 2011 and seven points in 2012.
 

Small and mid-size residential projects, starting in 2009, would be required to achieve 25 points from GreenPointRated, a rating system of BuildItGreen, a professional nonprofit membership organization that promotes energy- and resource-efficient buildings in California. The hurdle would increase to 50 points in 2010 and then 75 points in 2011 or 2012. The earlier increase would occur for multifamily residential buildings with more than five units.
 

Cumulative benefits this ordinance is expected to achieve through 2012 include: reducing CO2 emissions by 60,000 tons; saving 220,000 megawatt hours of power; saving 100 million gallons of drinking water; reducing waste and storm water by 90 million gallons of water; reducing construction and demolition waste by 700 million pounds; increasing the valuations of recycled materials by $200 million; reducing automobile trips by 540,000; and increasing green power generation by 37,000 megawatt hours.
 

The ordinance is based on the recommendations of a task force formed at the start of the year that included 10 members from San Francisco’s ownership, developer, financial, architectural, engineering, and construction community. The task force issued its report and recommendations in June.