Culver City : Housing Plans Revived

Even though two plans for residential redevelopment of the Studio Drive-In property have fallen through, the Culver City Redevelopment Agency indicated this week that it still intends to use the site for residential, not commercial, purposes.

Agency members Monday directed their staff to investigate residential uses such as single-family homes and single- and multifamily townhouses on the 9 1/2-acre, city-owned site at Jefferson and Sepulveda boulevards. They also agreed to tentatively keep 50 senior-citizen rental units in the project and to designate 25% of all units as affordable housing.

The agency stressed that the property is one of the few large parcels of underdeveloped land in the city. A new connecting road between Jefferson and Sepulveda boulevards is to be built by mid-1992.

The city’s first choice of developer, Watt Homes Inc., pulled out in November after a disagreement with the agency over building the project in phases.

Then, in January, the agency terminated negotiations with D & S Corp. and its partner, Ring Financial, when the developer asked to renegotiate the purchase agreement for the land. D & S contended that the recession had reduced the land’s value.

The site will probably be remarketed for development by late this year.

In the meantime, the drive-in, one of only two on the Westside, will stay open until the end of the year.