Point Dume Village landlord buys $21-million Santa Monica property

The owner of Malibu’s Point Dume Village Shopping Center purchased a one-acre development site in Santa Monica for $21 million with plans to build 20 luxury condominiums, Marquis Property Company announced Monday in a press release.  

Of more relevance to Malibu, the press release also noted that Zan Marquis, the owner of Point Dume Village, is currently applying for permits to add a parking deck to the busy shopping center on Point Dume in Malibu. 

Marquis purchased Point Dume Village in 2005, and has been attempting unsuccessfully to expand parking at the congested shopping center ever since.

Located at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard, the planned condo site in Santa Monica overlooks the Pacific Ocean, the city’s Ocean Front Walk and the nearby Annenberg Community Beach House. Marquis plans to begin construction on the “luxury villas and penthouses” sometime next year.

Plans for the condos have been in the works since 2007 when Dallas-based development firm Trammell Crow purchased a 47-unit apartment complex on the lot. All permits, plans and project materials for 301 Ocean Avenue have now been turned over to Marquis from Trammell Crow.

In 2010, the project faced stiff opposition from Santa Monica preservationists who fought to designate the site as a landmark, but those efforts eventually failed. The Spanish-style architecture was also criticized by local lawmakers and residents. 

The press released dubbed the proposed project “Malibu lifestyle on Ocean Avenue.”

Each unit will range from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet as it aims to become the first condo complex built on Ocean Avenue in the last 20 years, according to the press release.