ACTION Apartment Association

Santa Monica Rents Sees Small Monthly Rise

06/02/2022 10:24 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica rents rose by less than 1 percent last month after falling flat in April, according to Apartment List's monthly report released Wednesday.

The 0.8 percent increase in May brings the year-over-year rent growth in Santa Monica to 12.5 percent, compared to a 9.9 percent drop at this time last year, based on listings posted on the popular rental site.

Slow-Growth Heads Are Spinning

06/02/2022 10:22 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

State intervention is a bogeyman that is being evoked to get us to do the State's dirty work and destroy our city for them. Oh, don’t anger the State! They might be upset! Utter nonsense. The State has already declared nuclear war on Santa Monica. It cannot get any worse.

Affordable Spaces for Small Business

05/31/2022 10:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

SMa.r.t.

Los Angeles County recently proposed a program providing financial incentives for certain “Legacy” family businesses in their original historical location. They have been facing financial hardships for a variety of reasons like COVID, gentrification, and increasing commercial real estate rents, development, and land values. These are our “mom and pop shops,” and Los Angeles is losing many of these unique and symbolic places which help support and make a part of the Los Angeles community. Does this sound familiar with what is happening here in Santa Monica?

Poll Finds Strong Support for Boosting Security Downtown

05/31/2022 10:31 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The poll taken via phone text between May 19 and 25 found that 85 percent believe Brock's call for replacing the Downtown safety ambassadors with security guards and round-the-clock police patrols would decrease crime Downtown.

Brock Proposes Alternative to Mayor's "Outrageous" Transfer Tax

05/27/2022 4:53 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Brock's measure would charge a real estate transfer tax of $15 per $1,000 on commercial properties that sell for more than $8 million, with the tax applying only to the amount above that threshold.

Himmelrich's proposed tax would charge $53 per $1,000 on all properties valued at $8 million or more, with the entire amount taxed.

Three local tax measures could appear on November ballot

05/26/2022 10:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Councilmembers agree that the City should seek to raise revenues through a ballot measure, but what taxes to increase and where to spend the money is up for debate.

City Council Weighs in on Proposed FY 2022-23 Budget

05/26/2022 10:24 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

To expedite economic recovery, enhance public safety presence and address homelessness, the City must seek a combination of new ongoing and one-time revenues.

Is Gelson’s Our Future? Bigger Is Not Better & Not Necessary! – Part 2

05/24/2022 10:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

SMa.r.t.

The dream of our beachfront city is about to become a nightmare! Just imagine a tsunami of these projects washing onto the beaches of Santa Monica over the next 10 years – sad, no – alarming! The proposed project supplanting Gelson’s market at Lincoln & Ocean Park is much higher, much denser, with more traffic, and overall a horrific model for the future of our city.

Local government representatives pen coastal bills

05/24/2022 10:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

AB 2762

Richard Bloom’s AB 2762, focuses not on coastal resources but on the housing and homelessness crisis seen up and down the California coast. It “is an intent bill that would authorize local governments to build affordable housing on parking lots that serve parks and recreational facilities,” per the California Coastal Commission staff.

Santa Monica Rent Controlled Building Sells for Record $330 Million

05/24/2022 10:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The former Champagne Towers -- a half-century-old rent control apartment complex -- has sold for $330 million, making it the most expensive apartment sale in Santa Monica history.

According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, Santa Monica-based Douglass Emmett purchased the 120-unit complex at 1221 Ocean Avenue from Newport Beach-based Irvine Co., for an average of $2.75 million a unit.