Park del Amo Project : Builder Wants to Add Condos

Developers of Park del Amo, a massive residential and office project in the heart of Torrance, have been quietly circulating plans to construct 226 more condominium units instead of the office buildings already approved for the development.

No formal plan has been presented to the City Council, but during private, one-on-one meetings with several Torrance City Council members last month, representatives of Watt Industries floated the idea of building the condominiums on land where 494,300 square feet of offices had been planned.

Although the Park del Amo office buildings would have been low-rise structures, that is nearly twice the amount of office space at the 13-story Union Bank building on Hawthorne Boulevard.

A weak market for office space and strong demand for homes prompted the Santa Monica-based Watt Industries, which is building the residential portion of Park del Amo, to recommend converting the remaining open land in the nearly 140-acre project to residential uses.

“The commercial part has never really taken off like we thought it would,” developer Ray A. Watt said in an interview. About a third of the existing office development at Sepulveda and Crenshaw boulevards is vacant.

The Park del Amo project, the largest residential and office development in the South Bay, has been a source of controversy for years because of its size, density and design.

Although Watt said “less offices means less traffic,” the concept has received a less-than-warm reception from city officials.

Councilwoman Dee Hardison, echoing the sentiments of nearby homeowners, expressed concern about the density of the residential development that already exists at Park del Amo. “The community at large doesn’t like what they see over there,” she said. The council granted the developers greater density in exchange for obtaining adjacent land as open space.

Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert said the proposal would force the City Council to reopen discussion of the 5-year-old master agreement for development of the property.

Geissert said a Watt representative first approached her about a possible change in plans for Park del Amo a year ago, when the city was more receptive to residential projects.

“The tide has turned since that time,” she said in an interview. “There is a lot of concern about residential density. People are concerned because the project as built out looks different than originally proposed. . . . This will open up the whole issue again.”

The mayor said that if Watt submits a formal application to change the development agreement, “there would be serious questions about whether they would get the density on the new development that they were given permission for in the original development.”

The development agreement was approved in December, 1983, after a long-running battle between developers and environmentalists over preservation of the environmentally sensitive Madrona Marsh, which lies west of the project.

Under terms of the agreement, the developers won the right to build 1,482 residential units and 850,000 square feet of offices, in exchange for donating 34 1/2 acres of marshland to the city and selling an additional 8 acres.

Despite the higher density, only 1,256 residential units have been built or are under construction on the land designated for residential uses. A Marriott Courtyard hotel and several office buildings have been constructed in the commercial part of the project.

In a briefing paper presented in the private meetings with council members, Watt in effect asks that the right to build the additional 226 units be transferred to the commercial area. The paper asks the council to “reduce the original development by deleting the remaining commercial development and in its place construct the remaining 226 residential units.”

Watt wants to build luxury town homes priced from $300,000 and “patio-style” houses in the $430,000 to $450,000 price range on the commercial land, which is owned by the Torrance Investment Co., a real estate partnership.

The property, which Watt would purchase if the council approves the proposal, consists of two parcels at Sepulveda Boulevard and Hickory Avenue and at Crenshaw Boulevard south of Plaza del Amo.

Watt argues that the residential project would generate about 10,000 vehicle trips per day, instead of 17,000 trips per day if offices are built.

But neighbors argue that it would still be an increase in traffic along already crowded streets surrounding the development.

Robert Spanbauer, president of the Marble Estates Homeowners Assn., expressed concern about the potential for more traffic in his neighborhood south of Park del Amo.

Spanbauer said the existing project is “a lot denser than I thought it was going to be. The whole project surprises me,” he said. “It’s not very aesthetic.”

Jim Biondi, who monitors the South Bay office market for the Grubb & Ellis commercial real estate firm, said he agrees with Watt that demand for housing is stronger than demand for office space.

“His housing project in that development has been extremely successful and the office park has not been extremely successful,” Biondi said. “The office market in the South Bay is not as strong as everybody would want it to be. It is somewhat precarious.”

An estimated 22% of the office space in the central Torrance area was vacant at the end of September, according to a Grubb & Ellis survey.