Two local business property developers have introduced an ambitious plan to transform their property between Sunset and La Cruz into three retail and professional office buildings with three levels of underground parking. The proposed plan by Pacific Palisades residents Elliot Zorensky and Randy Nonberg, co-presidents of UDO Real Estate Ltd., envisions the following changes on UDO’s property, which slopes down from Sunset between the Washington Mutual building and the old post office and Sav-on building: 1. The three businesses on UDO’s Sunset frontage property (Coldwell Banker, Naturella and Philips French Cleaners) would be leveled and replaced by a two-story, 26,690-sq-ft building with retail at street level. 2. The three businesses on UDO’s La Cruz property (Sabrina Nails, Palisades Garden Cafe and UDO’s business office) would be leveled and replaced by a two-story, 17,936-sq-ft building. 3. The existing parking lot adjacent to the Sav-on building, which includes Palisades Auto Spa, would be eliminated and replaced by a a two-story, 8,441-sq-ft building. 4. Three levels of parking with 250 total spaces would be built below ground, with the entrance/exit on La Cruz at the current three-way intersection with Alma Real. Since La Cruz is 10 feet lower than Sunset, the first floor of parking would actually be at grade level off La Cruz and would not require a descent until the second level. 5. There’s room in the initial planning for a 500-sq-ft community room on the first floor between the building on Sunset and the parking lot building. (See rendering, page 3.) In order for the plan to work fully as envisioned, Zorensky told the Palisadian-Post before his appearance at last Thursday’s Community Council meeting, UDO needs to work out an agreement with the City of Los Angeles to buy its outdoor metered parking lot next to the Washington Mutual building. The lot has 23 spaces. “We could have the whole first floor designated as city parking with meters,” Zorensky said, “or preferably we could have a parking attendant and work out a revenue-sharing deal with the city. Having an attendant would discourage riff-raff from coming into the garage from La Cruz and would mean better security.” If the city chooses to retain its own open-air parking lot, Zorensky said, “we will have to build around it,” and people would still be able to enter/exit off Sunset. But either way, the business district would ultimately gain much-needed parking. “This is the most unique piece of property that has ever crossed our desk,” said Palisades architect Susan Oakley, who presented the plan with Zorensky at last Thursday’s Community Council meeting. She’s a partner with Jeffrey M. Kalban & Associates and is a former chairman of the Palisades Design Review Board. When asked if the height of the building proposed for Sunset complies with the town’s 35-ft height limit, Oakley acknowledged that it depends on where the city decides to measure. “If they measure from the lowest point of the property, at La Cruz, then we don’t have a two-story building because La Cruz is 10 feet lower than Sunset. If they measure each building separately, then we’re no higher on Sunset than Washington Mutual.” The council voted unanimously to support Zorensky’s efforts to reach a deal with the city in regards to folding the city’s parking lot property into the project.
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