Redondo Beach USD receives two bids For Knob Hill property
The Redondo Beach Unified School District Tuesday received two bids for the development of its property at 320 Knob Hill.
One proposal met the district’s minimum lease terms of $500,000 annually exactly and would refurbish the existing buildings as a Christian high school. The other proposal is slightly higher, at $502,027, and would keep the existing Christian grade school but also build a 100-unit moderate-income housing complex.
The district is required by law to either accept the highest responsible bid for the property – the former Patterson School, which now serves as the Knob Hill Community Center and Carden Dominion School – or to reject both bids. The school board continued the matter until next Tuesday in order to analyze the two bids and determine the financial viability of each.
Superintendent Steven Keller said that both bids are far superior to anything the school board has received since it began soliciting bids for the leasing of the property in 2008.
“We seemingly have two competitive bids and two legitimate users for the property,” Keller said. “Compared to the last few years, it’s something our board is going to have to take very seriously.”
The most recent bid previous to this was a $302,000 annual lease proposal by a supermarket developer in July. The school board at that time had used a recent appraisal to set minimum bids at $700,800, and so the bid was rejected outright. The board has since lowered its minimum desired lease revenue to $500,000.
A supermarket use would also have required a change in zoning, as the site is currently zoned for public use, as well as a citywide vote under the City Charter provision enacted under Measure DD in 2008. DD requires a public vote for all major land use changes. Moderate-income housing, however, was exempted under DD.
Neither bid proposed Tuesday night would require a public vote.
But Councilman Bill Brand, who attended the meeting, said that the council would not change zoning to accept moderate housing. He said the proposal – which was submitted by Alan Mackenzie of Mar Ventures – would probably include lower income subsidized “Section 8” housing.
“You could have Section 8 housing in there,” Brand said. “You will have Section 8 housing on PCH and Knob Hill. And the community does not support chicken stalls. And neither will the City Council.”
Brand and a neighborhood activist group called the Knob Hill Community Group have supported keeping a school use at the site.
Kelly Martin, the leader of the Knob Hill group, said she was outraged by the Mar Venture bid. She said she suspected that Mackenzie was given inside knowledge by district officials, given the amount of his bid and the nature of his proposal.
“I am just really angry at how they sort of finagled this thing,” Martin said. “I do feel the pulled the wool out from under us, and were very strategic about it.”
Both bids were sealed and opened for the first time at Tuesday’s meeting.
Keller strongly defended the integrity of the process.
“That is an insult to my board, to my chief business official, and an insult to me,” Keller said. “Don’t ever, ever, ever question the integrity of this process. That is nonsense.”
A higher bid can be submitted anytime before the school board revisits the matter next Tuesday night. By law, the bid would have to be 5 percent higher than the highest bid – the Mar Ventures bid – in order to be accepted. That means the lower bidder, called Ambassador High School, would have to increase its bid to a little more than $525,000.
Martin said that Mar Ventures had not reached out to the community prior to making its bid. Ambassador High School officials had met with the Knob Hill group and won their support prior to the meeting.
“Ambassador High School is the perfect solution to our problem,” Martin said.
Ambassador High School CEO Michael Barker told the school board that his group intended to vastly upgrade the property, which is more than 50 years old and in need of an estimated minimum of $1 million in work to be brought up to current school standards.
“I just wanted to let you know our project meets the district’s goals financially, insures no change in zoning for the property,” Barker said. “We believe our project increases the value of the property for the district. We also believe we are improving the community of South Redondo by proposing to rebuild.”
Mackenzie, who was the developer behind Plaza El Segundo and who for years attempted to develop in the Redondo Beach Marina, said that the Mar Ventures project would likewise improve values the neighborhood and would not be that far out of step with current average housing density nearby. He also said it would provide needed housing for entry-level workers in fields such as nursing, counseling, and librarians. ER