Safire, Tops to move to lumber property

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Malibu resident Richard Weintraub, who is in final negotiations with the city for renting the former site of Malibu Lumber, pictured above, has applied for a nearly 30,000-square-foot retail and restaurant center.

The local stores’ owners, facing high rents, make a deal to relocate nearby.

By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor

Local businesses looking for less expensive rents will have a new home in 2008. Developer Richard Weintraub, who is in negotiation with the city to rent the Malibu Lumber property on the Chili Cook-Off site, said in an interview late last week that Bernie Safire Hairstyle salon, Tops Gallery Malibu and Nail Box Plus will be relocating to the new site next year. Weintraub said he expects to have an announcement in the next couple weeks of at least two other local businesses that would be moving there.

Although Weintraub has not finalized his lease with the city, he has already put in an application for a nearly 30,000-square-foot retail and restaurant center. The proposal calls for a tear-down of the existing lumber property, and the construction of 11 retail spaces totaling 27,396 square feet and two restaurants totaling 2,000 square feet. Weintraub is partnering on the project with Richard Sperber, a Malibu resident and president of the landscaping business, ValleyCrest Companies. Weintraub told The Malibu Times last August that he envisioned “an incredible design center surrounded by amazing restaurants and retail woven throughout the center.”

The partnership of Weintraub and Sperber was selected in September by the city among eight candidates who applied to rent the Malibu Lumber property. The two parties remain in negotiation, with city officials and Weintraub saying they expect the lease to be finalized in the coming weeks. According to an agreement made in September, the city will accept no less than $925,000 per year, with the amount being increased by 5 percent every five years. The lease would be for 39 years, with an option to increase it to 54 years.

Weintraub said this week that none of the three local businesses have officially signed a deal with him, but he felt comfortable to announce their names. Tops and Safire are located at the Michael Koss-owned Malibu Country Mart, while Nail Box is still in business at Point Dume Village. Nail Box officials declined to comment for this story. But Tops co-owner Bob Walker said he was being forced out of the Country Mart because a new tenant was replacing him. Bernie Safire said he had to leave the Malibu Country Mart because he had just signed a two-year lease in January that doubled his rent from $3,900 to $8,000 per month, and he could not afford that.

“You’d think my rent would go up 20 percent or 30 percent; he’s [Koss] now asking for $17 a square foot,” Safire said. Weintraub said he would be charging the local businesses approximately $7 or $8 per square foot.

Safire, who has run his business at the Country Mart location for 27 years, said he signed the new lease with Koss in January, regrettably because he did not know what else to do. When asked if he would be able to afford to stay in business with the $8,000-per-month rate, he said, “I absolutely would not. I’m at the max of paying my rent right now.”

The person who answered the phone at Koss’ office said he was on vacation until Monday. A call to the Country Mart property manager was not returned.

Tops had been on a month-to-month lease since the summer, with an option for either Koss or Tops to break the lease with a 90-day notice. Bob Walker, who has owned Tops at its location for 24 years with his wife Dawn, said Koss gave him the 90-day notice, and the gallery would close at the end of this week.

Walker said he would have “nine months of retirement” and then prepare for the reopening next summer on the lumber property.

“It’s been a great run,” Walker said. “We’ve had a wonderful time with it.”

Walker said his rent had greatly increased recently, but he declined to specify by how much. However, he said he did not take issue with Koss.

“He really wanted a chain to come here,” Walker said. “He isn’t really interested in mom and pop [stores], and I can understand that from an economic point of view.”