Article by Kari Sayers
Peninsula News - Our Town - 2007

Peninsula Goes Mediterranean

Imagine yourself strolling along a sunny brick walk shaded by Chinese Flame trees, holly oaks, purple-leaf plum trees and Canary pines. You may be on your way to the library, the post office or an upscale shop. Then, in the late afternoon, you may stop at a sidewalk café for a double cappuccino before you head back to your condo in the glow of old-fashioned Parisian-style gas lamps — and all this without ever having to get in your car.

This is how European city dwellers have lived for centuries, and lately mixed-use developments have taken hold all over the United States. Plans for a new Peninsula Village, from Drybank Drive to Crenshaw Boulevard and from Silver Spur Road to Deep Valley Drive with condominiums above storefronts, are now in place for downtown Rolling Hills Estates.

“The idea of mixed use was part of the general plan back in 1992,” says Rolling Hills Estates Senior Planner and Project Manager Niki Cutler, who has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning. “The impetus was to revitalize the commercial district by creating ‘rooftops’ or dwellings. It will probably take 10 years-plus before the whole project is completed, but individual projects will have their own completion dates.”

Along the way, there will be some disruption for the merchants and professionals in the displaced buildings, but Cutler reiterates that the city will attempt to ensure that businesses stay open and operational during construction.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce is looking forward to being an advocate for the business community, says chamber board of directors Chair Barbara Dye. “We’re in the process of setting up a task force on the Village Plan, which will review the proposal,” she says. “When the environmental impact report comes out, we will take a position on the plan. We could take no position, we could support it or we could oppose it, depending on its impact. Our way of judging it will be on its benefits to and impact on the business community here.” 

A 41-unit condominium complex for people age 55 and older in the former parking lot between the professional center and the medical building on Deep Valley Drive, owned by the Wynne Corp., was the first project to be approved by the city. Construction already is in full swing, with a projected completion date a year and a half from now.

But will the seniors be a good fit for the businesses? 

“Fifty-five is not necessarily old,” says developer Ted Wynne, a longtime Peninsula resident. “If they’re retired, they are here to spend money, so they’re excellent neighbors for businesses. Many people on the Peninsula have outgrown their homes. They have four- or five-bedroom houses, but their children have grown up and moved out, so they do not need those big places anymore, but they would like to stay [on the Peninsula]. My wife and I are keeping one of the units for ourselves.” 

The complex will be three stories over a subterranean garage, Wynne says, and the units will range from 750 to 1,500 square feet, basically one and two bedrooms.

Skinner’s Pharmacy will relocate to the ground floor of the new building. “It will be a brand-new pharmacy instead of the one that’s almost 50 years old, and they’re excited about that,” Wynne says.

In a second project, the professional center itself will be torn down, but Wynne, whose company has previously built condominium complexes in the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Gardena and San Pedro, maintains that the disruption will be minimal. “This building has transitioned over the last 15 years,” he says. “Doctors have joined HMOs and have moved near hospitals, so there aren’t the general-practice doctors here that there used to be. In fact, there is only one general-practice office in this building. We had a second one last year, and they moved to Skypark.”

Two other projects also received city approval — construction started several weeks ago on 18 units at the old McDonald’s site at the corner of Crenshaw and Silver Spur, and another 58 units will replace the old Palos Verdes Car Wash on Deep Valley. These latter units will be larger overall and not restricted to senior tenants.

Other projects are planned, and each one will have a slightly different style, as shown in the architectural drawings, which can be viewed at RHE City Hall or on the city’s Web site. All will have a Mediterranean look. “The Mediterranean feel is appropriate for Palos Verdes, so most of the successful projects will have that,” says Wynne.

The city’s draft proposal encourages big, non-glare store windows on the ground floor for an open and transparent look, trellises and columns, gabled roofs and no flat walls. Instead, plans call for architectural indentations to enhance shadows and depths. “It gives you real quality living places when you have some interesting architecture,” says Wynne. “It’s market-driven, too. If you want to be successful in selling these homes, you have to give people something they will be proud to live in.

“I’m impressed with the city,” he continues, “because they are doing it in a thoroughly controlled way. They look at every aspect, the traffic, everything that could potentially change.”

Cutler is aware that there are obstacles. The rubber will hit the road when the environmental impact report is released and put out for public review, she says. “Typically, this is the time when you start hearing about concerns.”

Meanwhile, the chamber wants to take a proactive approach, says chamber President and CEO Kay Finer. “We’re keeping an eye on the progress and how the plan will affect the businesses.”

Finer has researched mixed-use developments in Inglewood, as well as the much-lauded Birch Street Promenade in Brea. She also has initiated public forums with the community at large, the merchants and the city to see what kind of businesses would complement existing retail and professional services. Another such forum will take place soon.

“Both residents and merchants have identified a need for a trolley as a way to transport people throughout the business district, linking the major shopping centers and the satellites throughout the commercial district,” Finer says. The city is looking into its feasibility.

“Our campaign right now is shop, dine and do business on the Peninsula,” says Dye. “We’re encouraging people on the Peninsula to take another look at [the shops, restaurants and professional services] here instead of driving miles off the Peninsula.”  The revenue is, of course, needed to fix the streets and pay the sheriff, she adds.

One concern that already has been expressed is increased traffic, but Wynne maintains that there was, for example, more traffic when McDonald’s operated here. “The Arco station is also gone,” he says. “And there was a lot more traffic when the service station was here. In our case, we’re going to have seniors living here, probably retired people, and they’re not going to drive anywhere. They’ll actually be using the facilities. [Mixed-use] gives vibrancy to the neighborhood,” he says.