The look of downtown Malibu is about to change, now that the long embattled La Paz Ranch development project in the Malibu Civic Center is one step closer to beginning construction. New owners have bought the property and appear ready to build. The more-than-15-acre site just east of the Malibu Library got city council approval in 2008 to build more than 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space that includes five buildings in the back of the site near currently undeveloped hillside.
Sources close to the project reported long-awaited intersection improvement plans at the intersections of Pacific Coast Highway and Webb Way and Pacific Coast Highway and Cross Creek have been approved, paving the way for the plans to go ahead.
Land and developer consultant Don Schmitz — who had been attached to the project for the better part of two decades — told The Malibu Times that while he is no longer involved in the project, he is enthusiastic about the site and what’s to come.
“The buyers are very conscientious builders — Southern California developers,” Schmitz said. “I wish them well. I’m very excited about the La Paz project. It’s a beautiful project that will benefit the community. I’m excited to see it be built.”
The scope of the project is big.
The La Paz Ranch development has been on the table for years. The previous owners secured permission to build on 20 percent of the property under a development agreement that requires developers to give the city a public amenity. The agreement gives the city two acres in the back of the property and $500,000 to spend to develop it. The city will not get the land until final permits are approved. The septic system was an issue in getting permits, but now the project can hook into the new sewer system being built in the civic center. It’s possible that both the sewer and La Paz Ranch could be completed by September 2018.
The hold up in construction had been due to the lengthy permit process that not only includes sewage issues, but also roadway remediation on Cross Creek and Webb Way that will include widening and turn signals. An earlier version of the plan was struck down in 2016 after a wave of outrage over a plan to cut down a historic sycamore tree near the entrance to the Malibu Lagoon.
“Do you remember the battle over the tree?” Malibu Planning Commission Chair John Mazza said in an interview with The Malibu Times “There’s a sycamore tree in the sidewalk right in front of the park across the street from the Shell station. They were going to cut that down, so to widen the street to put in a turn lane — everybody went berserk.”
The new plan, as Mazza described it, includes narrowing the lanes to fit a right turn lane onto Cross Creek Road from westbound PCH, and an additional turn lane at Webb Way and PCH.
Groundbreaking at the site appears imminent, according to Mazza.
“You can already see stakes in the field. There’s bulldozers and construction equipment there, but that’s for the sewer.
“La Paz is the only project that’s going to be built that’s pre-Measure R,” he continued. “It’s as big as the [Malibu Colony Plaza] so it’s a very big project and the question is, ‘How are they going to fill it?’ There are a lot of vacancies downtown. In theory, it could drive rents down in the Civic Center and there’s the possibility that we’ll have more local-serving businesses. It’s going to be a shock when people see how big it is.”
Next to the La Paz Ranch project on the east side is also the Whole Foods site, formerly the home of Papa Jack’s Skate Park. That project has been held up due to the passage of Measure R that shot down big development in Malibu without voter approval.