Manhattan Beach City Council compromises on Metlox request to add more restaurants
The Manhattan Beach City Council approved changes to the Metlox master use permit governing the mix of restaurants, retail, and personal services Tuesday night in order to give the plaza operator more flexibility as the economy shifts away from bricks and mortar retail.
But the Council stopped short of giving Jonathan Tolkin, the principal of the Tolkin Group, which operates Metlox Plaza, the broader changes he sought.
Tolkin won the ability to convert the space now occupied by Nick’s into to two smaller restaurants. When a previous restaurant went out of business in that space, Tolkin said, it took nearly a year to fill the vacancy due to the size, and cost. He also was granted the ability to convert the space now operated by Waterleaf — a retail interior decorating store — into personal service uses, such as a yoga or pilates studio or a hair salon. But the council denied his request to possibly allow Petro’s restaurant to expand to the second-floor space now occupied by Kasai Hair and likewise nixed a proposed change that would have allowed the space operated by Beehive to convert to restaurant use. The Beehive space was approved as a personal service use.
Tolkin emphasized that none of the current stores are closing. He said that he was trying to maintain flexibility in keeping with the fast-changing nature of the retail sector. Shoppers are increasingly going online, at the expense of retail stores such as those at Metlox.
“There are some challenging spaces we have on this property, so we want to make sure we can change quickly and avoid long-term vacancies,” Tolkin said. “…All of my tenants I spoke to about this — they are not going anywhere. But things are happening in the world that none of us can control.”
Councilperson David Lesser asked Tolkin if his vision was to turn Metlox Plaza into a food court. Tolkin said he remained committed to a mix of uses.
“It’s not our vision to turn this into a food court… Our goal is to continue to have retail uses there,” Tolkin said. “It’s just flexibility. We somehow need to differentiate, and it’s very tough for retailers to stay in business and compete right now.”
In February, the Planning Commission approved the changes Tolkin sought, but that decision was appealed by resident Don McPherson. McPherson gave the council a presentation in which he largely focused on the parking impacts of the proposed changes. He alleged that city staff, at the time of Metlox Plaza’s original approval in 2002, falsified parking numbers. He argued that more restaurants would further exacerbate the shortage of parking downtown.
“Most of this results from staff falsifying the parking analysis,” McPherson said. “No place exists except residential areas to park the 83 cars that are going to result in this expansion. We all know they’re going to park in the residential area, and that was a fact that was documented in the 2008 downtown parking management plan the last time the city looked at parking here. The parking shortfall in the downtown, 1,178 spaces in 2008, is actually much larger than that because of the grandfathered bars and nightclubs and other places that have no parking. Staff falsified the parking; they did not include the 95 monthly merchant parking permits added since 2008 to Metlox.”
“When you say falsified, you mean they purposefully did something wrong?” asked Councilperson Steve Napolitano.
“I definitely believe that, and I don’t do that lightly, believe me,” McPherson said.
Public Works director Anne Macintosh wasn’t working for the city at the time Metlox was approved, but she said parking use calculations were accurate and consistent with how the city generates such estimates for all proposed projects. In her report, she indicated that the parking structure built with Metlox actually has an existing surplus. The structure contains 460 spaces, while the existing uses by law require 330 spaces. The added uses, she said, would bring that total to 381 spaces, leaving a surplus of 79.
“I do not think that our staff ever falsified any parking numbers…. What they did when all these parking determinations were made was absolutely technically correct,” said Mayor Amy Howorth.
Several residents testified against the proposed changes.
“Staff had indicated that there’s something not viable about Metlox, yet the operator said there isn’t a current problem, and right now he has long-term leases from a great mix of retail, a great mix of personal service,” said Neal Leventhal. “That’s one of the most difficult things to maintain. We understand there Maybe future problems, but it makes no sense to start to solve a problem we don’t have… One thing I’m certain of, there is no such thing as a parking surplus downtown, whatever the numbers may say.”
Council praised Tolkin’s management of Metlox but unanimously agreed that the sweep of his proposed changes was too great. Napolitano promised that if existing retail stores went out of business, council would revisit the matter quickly.
“We have a great operator of Metlox, the Tolkin Group, led by Jonathan Tolkin and his family,” Napolitano said. “Council certainly provided direction, but they brought to fruition the place that the city now gathers at, so I appreciate what you’ve done there. And what you’re asking for today is a very smart business move. It’s smart to ask for flexibility. Flexibility is what’s needed in today’s climate, especially given retail. But the one thing that’s been pointed out and that I’m having an issue with is a compelling reason at this time….There’s not enough there that the community’s buying into that says we want to go all the way on this.”
The changes council rejected were done “without prejudice,” meaning they could be revisited without going through the entire planning process again. Tolkin had noted that it took him two years just to get his proposed changes to the council, something that would damage plaza business were he trying to fill vacancies.
Councilperson Richard Montgomery apologized for the delayed process and vowed it would not occur again.
“This council wouldn’t let that happen,” he said.