Santa Monica Property Blog

THE FUTURE OF TRAFFIC ON OLYMPIC BLVD

February 24, 2010 on 12:36 am | In Fascinating Information, Of Local Importance, Problem, Statistics, The City of Santa Monica says, Uncategorized, all | 2 Comments

Courtesy of Zina Josephs

Edited by Jodi Summers

The distance on Olympic Blvd., from 26th St. to Centinela (north leg) is 0.64 miles.

The distance on Olympic Blvd. from 26th St. to Bundy Avenue is one mile.

Below are business development projects that are vying to go in near or along Olympic Blvd. in the LMSD zone, between 26th St. and Centinela. Except for Draft Environmental Impact Report figures, the following are “guesstimates”:

1) Agensys, Inc. – Possibly 1,200 daily car trips.

2) Bergamot Transit Village Center — Possibly 15,000 daily car trips

3) New Roads School (aka Herb Alpert Educational Village) – Possibly 1,200 daily car trips.

4) Paseo Nebraska –  Possibly 5,000 daily car trips.

5) Roberts Business Center — Possibly 2,200 daily car trips

6) SMC Academy of Entertainment & Tech – 450 pkg spaces — Possibly 2,700 daily car trips

7) Village Trailer Park — Possibly 2,700 daily car trips

2834 Colorado Creative Studio Project — 1,796 new daily car trips, according to the Draft EIR

This adds up to: 31,796 daily car trips.

As of 2006, Olympic Blvd. had: 33,880 daily car trips between between 26th & Centinela.

Now add the following:

9) Bundy Village & Medical Park – LMSD-adjacent, at Olympic & Centinela — 20,073 daily car trips, according to the Draft EIR.

The grand total is: 85,749 daily car trips.

That’s about the total number of residents we currently have in Santa Monica — it’s an astronomical amount of traffic – and impossible to integrate into our road capacity.

**

Info courtesy of Zina Josephs of the Friends of Sunset Park community group.

http://www.piercemattie.com/blogs/olympic.gif

SANTA MONICA CREATES COMMUNITY WITH THEIR GARDEN SHARING REGISTRY

February 17, 2010 on 12:55 am | In Green, Of Local Importance, Problem Solving, Uncategorized, Water, all | 5 Comments

SANTA MONICA CREATES COMMUNITY WITH THEIR GARDEN SHARING REGISTRY

edited by Jodi Summers

Here’s a great idea for Santa Monica property owners with a small area in your yard that you’d like to transform into a productive and beautiful garden, but lack the time and expertise? Consider sharing your soil with an experienced gardener by listing your space on the city of Santa Monica’s new Garden Sharing Registry.

Once registered, you’ll be able to choose from a list of avid gardeners. Together, you and your
gardener will structure a sustainable partnership that makes sense to both of you, including type of gardening project, how the cost of seeds and supplies will be handled, supply storage, length of commitment and availability. Property owners provide land and water, while gardeners do the work. Together, you share the crop!

Bountiful benefits include home-grown produce, fresh herbs, fragrant flowers and a deeper connection with the community around you. Signing up is simple – just complete an application online at
http://communitygardens.smgov.net or call (310) 458-8573.

THE GREENEST CITIES IN THE WORLD

February 10, 2010 on 12:36 am | In Fascinating Information, Green, Problem Solving, Uncategorized, World, all | 5 Comments

THE GREENEST CITIES IN THE WORLD
 
Edited by Jodi Summers
 
We like lists, it means a lot of research has been done. Today’s dynamic list is from Reader’s Digest;
 they have come up with a list of world's greenest, most livable cities. To compile this list, they have an
alyzed data from two top sources covering 141 nations. We’ll give you the top 26 greenest cities
(as 26 happens to be San Francisco), the rest you can find @
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/best-places-to-live-green/article45734.html

1. Stockholm, Sweden

2. Oslo, Norway

3. Munich, Germany

4. Paris, France

5. Frankfurt, Germany

6. Stuttgart, Germany

7. Lyon, France

8. Dusseldorf, Germany

9. Nantes, France

10. Copenhagen, Denmark

11. Geneva, Switzerland

12. Zurich, Switzerland

13. Glasgow, United Kingdom

14. Barcelona, Spain

15. New York, United States

16. Brussels, Belgium

17. Hamburg, Germany

18. Hong Kong, PR China

19. Newcastle, United Kingdom

20. Tokyo, Japan

21. Helsinki, Finland

22. Washington, D.C., United States

23. Chicago, United States

24. Vancouver, Canada

25. Dortmund, Germany

26. San Francisco, United States

**

Sources:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/04/0406_liveable_cities/image/7_frankfurt.jpg

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/best-places-to-live-green/article45734.html

http://www.primetravels.com/PackageImages/699/Stockholm-Sweden_03-360a032607.jpg

http://highendfood.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/frankfurt_skyline.jpg

http://mamofrizzi.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/tb_copenhagen_denmark.jpg

http://www.bertgulick.com/images/05/copenhagen-denmark.jpg

http://www.iho-ohi.org/wp-content/brussels-belgium.jpg

http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01253/Hotspots%20in%20Europe/BrusselsCityImage.jpg

http://wallpapers.free-review.net/63__Shibuya_Tokyo_Japan.htm

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/3771/eiffeltower2cparis2cfrawo0.jpg

http://www.spa.ucla.edu/up/webfiles/tokyo-shinjuku-45_4.jpg

http://paaia.org/galleries/default-image/san-francisco.jpg

http://www.namss.org/images/AC2008/SanFrancisco.jpg

SANTA MONICA PROPERTY SNAPSHOT – FEBRUARY 2010

February 4, 2010 on 1:11 am | In Fascinating Information, Home info, Of Local Importance, Statistics, Uncategorized, all | 4 Comments

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

By Jodi Summers

CONDOS

This month we start with condos because the news is good!

Oh, what a difference two years make. After languishing for much of 2008 + 2009, the Santa Monica condo market is showing signs of recovery. Since prices dropped so low, people pulled their properties from the market, waiting for signs of strength. Clarus Market Metrics reports that contrasting January 2008 vs. Jan 2010 volume of for sale properties is down 29%. Meantime, thanks to government incentives, condos are selling in Santa Monica. The number of sold properties is up 12%.

As far as price dips go, you’ll notice that the condo market comparison is not quite as severe as the single family market. Weigh Jan-08 vs. Jan-10 - the median price of for sale properties is down 13%, BUT the median price of sold properties is up 8%. So, if you think abstractly, it’s a drop of 5%. And we saw increases of 400% in the past decade, right?

.

Another bright spot in the Santa Monica condo market is that the average months supply of inventory is down -12.3%.

SINGLE FAMILY

The nicest thing we can say about the Santa Monica single family real estate market this month is that, n contrasting January 2008 vs. January 2010 is that the average months supply of inventory is down -35.6%.

Now keep in mind, like the unemployment figures in this grueling recession, that doesn’t necessarily mean sales are up, it just means that sellers have stopped trying

From Jan-08 vs. Jan-10, the number of for sale properties is down 19%…and here’s an interesting caveat, the number of sold properties is up 27%… and here’s why…

Clarus Market Metrics points out that if you compare Jan-08 vs. Jan-10, the median price of for sale properties is down 14%, and the median price of sold properties is down 47%.

So, now is the time to sell only if you need to.

Away from the beach, in the more afford end of the real estate market things are looking brighter. The California Association of Realtors (CAR) recently released their December 2009 report for existing home sales and prices in California. Statewide, sales of existing single-family homes rose by +1.7% (compared with December 2008) to 558,320 units (seasonally adjusted, annualized rate) while the median price increased by +8.4%. The was the second consecutive year-over-year price increase (in November prices rose by +4.7% for the first time since August 2007) and was the largest year-over price increase in three years. On a month-over basis, December marked the tenth month in a row to see an increase in median price (+0.8%). In Los Angeles County, unit sales during December rose by +4.3% over the year. The median price increased by +4.9% to $353,560.

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We would like your real estate business. If we can provide you with more detailed information, please contact the SoCal Investment Group through Jodi Summers, Jodi@jodisummers.com or call 310.392.1211. We look forward to working with you in your next real estate transaction.

**

http://www.cirbdata.com/

https://www.terradatum.com/

http://www.globest.com/news/1590_1590/washington/183353-1.html

http://www.SoCalGreenRealEstateBlog.com

http://www.laedc.org/eedge/index.html#1

http://www.iamnotastalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/img_18842.jpg