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Feature Articles |
Alternative Futures for the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: Issues and ObservationsJuly 25, 2005IntroductionThe Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (the "SMCA") was built in 1958 and for many years was one of the largest concert venues in Southern California. Located at the southwest corner of the Civic Center Area near the intersection of Fourth and Main Streets, the facility has been an icon in Santa Monica for many years. Designed as a multi-purpose facility, the main facility can be used in both as a flat-floor venue for exhibit events and as a sloped floor venue for concerts through a unique mechanical riser system. The facility comprises 27,000 square feet on the main floor with seating of from 3,000 to 3,500 people for concert and entertainment/meeting events. An adjacent East Wing provides an additional 4,200 square feet of exhibit/meeting space. Tents are used at the main entrance to provide over 17,000 square feet of covered exhibit space for particularly large attendance events. Over 1,000 parking spaces are provided in an adjacent surface lot. In its heyday, SMCA hosted significant entertainment and cultural events with regional attendance draw. Over the years, as the financial demands of large entertainment events increased and as other larger modern facilities were developed in Southern California, the event schedule underwent a slow but significant change. Only limited concert events now are booked and the majority of event-days consist of consumer exhibit shows. At the same time, a lack of capital investment in the facility has further deteriorated its position as significant concert/ entertainment event venue in Southern California. Various other operational and physical changes to the SMCA will occur with implementation of the City’s Civic Center Specific Plan ("CCSP") and the apparent direction of the City to focus on "community, cultural and educational" events in the future. In view of the unknown impact of these changes, the SMCA management requested that ULI LA conduct a Technical Assistance Panel ("Panel") to address certain issues relating to the future of the facility. Specifically, the Panel was asked to comment on the following: - What uses/reuses might be feasible given the physical characteristics of the facility under two scenarios: (1) with no physical or operational constraints; and (2) with existing conditions, constraints and policies including relocation of and restrictions on parking, proposed surrounding land uses in the CCSP, current 3 City use priorities and facility limitations/opportunities based on its physical characteristics? - What is the outlook for longterm use of this facility for various types of conventional events (including conference/ meeting facilities in support of hotels) and what are the general financial implications of this outlook? - What are the best uses in terms of return to the community and what are the financial implications of use policies focused on this objective? - What are the physical and financial implications of maximum public uses versus maximum revenue-generating uses? The Panel could not address the specific financial implications of alternative use policies and relied on data supplied by the SMCA management on recent operations and prior market studies to make general observations about the likely impact on operations of alternative uses. The Panel also could not specify what are the "best uses" for the facility based on return to the community in the absence of community "vision" on the costs/benefits of alternative uses. Rather, the Panel focused on alternatives discussed in prior market studies and the CCSP 4 Evaluation Report together with identifying some overriding issues relating to the integration of the SMCA into the CCSP and the need for community vision and consensus in determining the "future" of this facility. In addressing these and other issues, the Panel relied on an extensive briefing materials put together by SMCA management including discussions of issues and options for the SMCA; excerpts from the CCSP; the CCSP Evaluation Report (Civic, Cultural and Community Uses); Civic Auditorium Market Assessment prepared by Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.; historical operations and revenues/expenses for the SMCA; and various other information on the facility and events. | |
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