Walk down Ocean Park Boulevard, and you can feel something coming. Development signs announce seven- and eight-story buildings that will tower over local shops and restaurants. Almost 1,000 mostly luxury units. Across Santa Monica, neighbors who love their “Neighborhood Commercial” streets are wondering: Could this be coming to my neighborhood? To Main Street? Pico? Montana Avenue? 

If you aren’t, you should be. Because it can. And it is. A quick check of the City’s development projects shows multiple 8-story buildings across the city, an 11-story on Broadway, and even a 23-story on 7th Street. 23 stories! So much for ’nothing taller than the clock tower.’

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/05/sm-a-r-t-column-get-into-the-weeds-with-us/