COOLLOFT (a Cool Loft)
2818 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Lofting: Commercial Zone (C2-1) and Residential Building (Triplex)
Marina del Rey area, City of Los Angeles
For Sale by owner; OWC (owners will consider carrying a large loan to buyer, especially a first.)
Our E-mail addresses are:
CoolLoft is a site to describe 2818 Abbot Kinney, Los Angeles,
California. This is a mixed commercial and residential building for lofting.
This website was written to advertise this single property for sale
(and for the practice of writing a website).
This is a small, inexpensive, C2-1 zoned property. It is likely to
be an EXCELLENT INVESTMENT.
The most attractive thing about this property, in our opinion, is
the ability to live in a building and operate a business in the
same building. This allows taking care of children while
"minding the store". This allows rolling out of bed and
already being "at work", perhaps by walking through a door.
If, after dinner, you want to do more work on your office computer
and with your office papers, you just walk through a door.
If you can't sleep, might as well get some work done.
When you are tired, walk back to the living quarters.
It is no secret that real estate values have softened a little
in many markets since mid-2006 and after the "Sub-Prime Crisis".
But now, October 2007, there is no softening
on C2-1 property on Abbot Kinney. Ask a broker. It is still
hot. Why is that? Maybe it is because the demographics are
improving toward the upscale. Maybe people expect that the
increased load on Lincoln Blvd caused by the ever expanding
Playa Vista development (Howard Hughes' Balona Wetlands property)
will cause the widening of Abbot Kinney. Widened or not, there
is already a huge amount of traffic. This is expanding
business activity. Things are trending upscale, like
Montana Avenue did in Santa Monica, which is now
pretty much like Rodeo Drive. But Abbot Kinney retains
a highly prized media and arts business character.
One thing is certain, you pretty much
can not turn the corner, or wait at the stop light, at
Washington Blvd and the start of Abbot Kinney, without staring
at this building in front of your windshield. As far as
live-work space, this could well be the best neighborhood
to live in of any westside commercial zone, a better neighborhood
by far than Abbot Kinney further north (say the 1400 block).
We have been told that it would not be difficult to
tear down this building, and build a bigger commercial or
mixed use structure. See below.
Lofting
Loft
This word "lofting" means to live in a commercial building.
It started from large buildings used for business, where
a "loft" or upper level was put inside the large building,
over the business area.
The current owners operated a computer consulting business
at 2818 Abbot Kinney. They said he paid only $25 extra to add a
"rider" to his homeowners's insurance, for "incidental
business use (computer consulting)". They believe this
covered them for "slip and fall" by a client and such, and for
business equipment up to 1/4 of the building value. They had
a residential phone and residential DSL. These things are
not generally available in a "commercial" space.
Some utility bills can become business expenses.
He even got a "Freddie Mac" duplex type 30-year fixed loan on it,
although they said that was kind of hard to get the bank
to approve. But they did. The ambiguity
between residential and commercial can be useful.
"Lofting" is "normal" and common in East Asia
(Japan, China and Formosa, Korea, etc.), in Europe, and,
in fact, most of the world other than the USA. But in the USA,
stricter zoning generally prohibits this. If you get a
commercial building on C2-1 land, the government usually
says, "you can't live there". If you buy a house or duplex,
the government usually says, "you can't have that
business there", especially if you have any walk-in
traffic at all. So far at least, the current owners
and past owners have been able to do pretty much
what they wanted to do, given the C2-1 land and the
building's residential "Certificate of Occupancy"
(something the City issues when a building is finished).
2818 Abbot Kinney is incredibly flexible, and incredibly convenient.
It is also in a good neighborhood. It is only 1200 feet (350m)
from the boat docks of Marina del Rey.
Technically, Marina del Rey is a neighborhood name, that
is sometimes applied to the unincorporated land (Los Angeles
County, but not in a city), and sometimes applied to the area
all around the Marina. This property is inside Los Angeles City,
about 120 feet north of the border, Washington Blvd. (North of
Washington Blvd is
the City of Los Angeles, and south of it is county land, not
in a city.) This location is pretty low crime, and pretty upscale.
Check out the US Census data, and the crime statistics for
this area at the Los Angeles Police Pacific Division, for yourself.
2818 Abbot Kinney is conveniently located, in the center point of
LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), Century City, the new
Playa Vista (Hughes) development, the Santa Monica Promenade, Main Street,
and the beaches of Marina del Rey, Venice, Santa Monica, and
the often empty beach near LAX ("Vista del Mar"). It is 3 miles from
Santa Monica, and only a short
14 mile drive to downtown Los Angeles. Yet the weather is about the
best in California. The nearby ocean and boat docks serve as
a year round air conditioner, making it cooler in the summer
and warmer in the winter than other neighborhoods that are
even a mile more inland. The photo on the top left of this web
page was taken about 1700 feet (500m) south from 2818 Abbot Kinney, camera
facing North (back toward Abbot Kinney), showing
the Jamaica Bay Inn Hotel (about $200/night).
The new Playa Vista development,
formerly Hughes Aircraft's property, is now under development.
When completed, it is expected to be several times the size
of Century City, a very large and upscale business and residential
complex. There has already been a large traffic
increase between Playa Vista, and Santa Monica, and the nearby
beaches, and Playa del Rey is far from finished.
Much of it will go on Lincoln Blvd, to where
it intersects the Santa Monica Freeway. However, some noticeable
amount will probably drive down Abbot Kinney. As simply a
house, no one wants lots of traffic. But as a store or office or
other business, this is good. It is likely to substantially raise
property values when Playa Vista is finished.
The current building has mostly double-glazed windows, and
has blown-in heavy insulation on all outside walls and in
the attic. Even the garage and it's roof are heavily insulated.
In addition to low energy costs, the payoff of this is substantial
sound-proofing. This can ameliorate the sound of increased
traffic on Abbot Kinney.
As you will see if you walk the area, and from the
Aerial Photos (button on this website), there are
probably hundreds of
condominiums with selling prices of $1 to $4 million
within 500 feet (150m) of 2818 Abbot Kinney.
(About 500 feet away is the 13-story 700-condo
Marina City Club, where after you buy, the "dues"
are $700/month and the "land rent" $500/month.)
This area is probably a very good investment.
Every couple of years, the owners of the Jolly Roger Hotel
offers to buy this property. Most likely, someday, this whole
block will be purchased by one developer to do something
really large. That is, unless you don't want to sell.
Possible Future Options
The owners had this property looked at for development
options in November, 2003 by the famous Venice architect,
Whitney Sander (Sander Architects, 2413 Grand Canal,
Venice, CA 90291). His website shows
some of his work, at
sander-architects.com.
He made some sketches of a rough plan to level this lot,
and build two residential townhomes, each about 1250
square feet, and one store-front in the front, about 500
square feet. Under the townhomes would be parking on
the first floor with alley access. Above this would be two (or partly two)
floors (townhomes and store-front). The parking would be
partially dug down. The roof was slanted somewhat.
The idea could be interpreted as "two and a half stories."
The building edge was on the property line in most places,
because (allegedly) you can do that with "commercial",
lot-line to lot-line to the sidewalk. Except there were some
inset balconies and such on the living quarters facing
the Marina. It was believed that the view there would
be higher than the Jolly Roger building (to look above it). And this
inset was needed for residential windows. By making the
building mixed use and mostly residential, parking requirements
were reduced. He brought his ideas to the L.A. Building
Department (Pacific Office that does this area)
and discussed his ideas, including the parking.
He said they seemed favorably disposed toward the
ideas and numbers (sq feet, dimensions, setback, parking),
and guided his numbers somewhat.
If the new buyer is interested in development, he may want
to talk to this architect. The owners made some estimates
of what these two townhomes and the store-front would
rent for, or sell for, split up to three "condos".
The owners consulted a builder.
The profit potential here seemed very good! However,
then the owners's potential investment partner
changed course, and the project was not built.
The owners are moving, and decided to
take the lazy way and sell it as-is.
[LEGAL DISCLAIMER: "Don't sue the owners."
If the new buyer is interested in development, he
may want to talk to this architect. Sander is
very bright and creative, went to Yale, and
has won USA and international awards (for example,
American Institute of Architects Merit Award for
Design, 2003). His self-built office in Venice is
very impressive. But the owners
can't take responsibility for him.
The current owners doesn't know for
certain what the city or other governmental bodies will
allow to be done or built. The owners don't know what
the Building Permit and Certificate of Occupancy of
the current building say (they must be either Triplex
or Duplex because of two meters).
Although the owners have lived there and run a business there,
the owners can not guarantee what you can do....
check for yourself! This property
will be sold as-is. It's up to you to get professional
advice about what you can do there, and about the
building's condition. Any dimensions, maps, photos,
and other information on this website are approximate
and may not be accurate. Don't depend on them and
check it out or measure it yourself. ]
Building Layout
The building layout
appears to be a triplex, made of two one-bedroom apartments,
and one "studio" (a bedroom and bathroom). In the back of all that
is an attached two-car garage, and a back yard that is covered with asphalt
for parking. The owners were told that in it's history, it has sometimes been
rented to 4 different people or companies. The front apartment was a real estate
company office, the middle was a construction company, the back
studio was rented to a man as a business, and the garage and back yard
was rented to an automotive services business. The owners were also told the
front unit was once rented as a private mail box center.
There are two gas meters and two electric
meters. The front unit uses one gas and electric meter,
and all the rest uses the other.
There is one water meter.
Each of the "three units" flows into the next, with heavy
(sound deadening) doors or double-doors (doors that swing
out on both sides of the doorway, used in the past to
keep tenants separated). Some fancy hotel suites have
double-doors like this (divide or unite). With these doors unlocked,
you can walk from the front door of the front apartment,
all the way through the middle apartment and to the back of the rear studio.
A Rare Find
The owners spent about 10 hours per week for about a year (500 hours)
trying to find a property like this before finding this one
and buying it. The criteria were:
1. Can live there and operate a business there.
2. Not too expensive and therefore small.
3. In the Western areas of Los Angeles, where the
weather is cool in the summer, where there is a lot
less smog, and where the culture is "Westside".
That means Malibu, Santa Monica Canyon, Santa
Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey, the western edge of Culver City,
Playa del Rey, Hermosa Beach, or Manhattan Beach. Compared with
Abbot Kinney further north, and most all other mixed use
areas near here, this seems like the best neighborhood
from the perspective of living there.
During a full year, the owners got the MLS every week and looked, and
could find only 4 properties in the entire year that met
these requirements. None of them were in a great neighborhood.
So during the second half of that year, the owners also walked
along streets that were in this region, and were zoned
C-1 or C-2, and that had some residential buildings. There
are not so many. They went "door to door" to the
appropriate residential buildings on the commercial street,
talked with whoever was
there, found the owners, and tried to talk the owners into
selling the building. That is how they bought 2818 Abbot Kinney.
It was not forsale. But over several meetings over 2 months,
they talked the owners into selling it. It was never
on the market or listed. Because such a
building is so rare, it is extremely hard to find any
"comparables" at all to set a market price. So please ignore
the asking price, and make any offer you feel comfortable with.
"Creative Financing" is possible, particularly a "first" with
the owners with a substantial down payment. Make an offer.
You can
email
an informal offer.
Of course you can re-style the interior to suite your tastes.
But the rooms that are not a kitchen or bathroom generally
have nice hardwood floors, with some nice touches like
some light-oak stained moldings around windows and doors,
and some light-oak stained doors made to match the
floors. These floors are the original light-oak 2" strip
boards from the 1950's, not the cheap new overlay stuff.
The off-white walls give a blank canvas
for your furnishings.
Check out the detailed interior photo "tour",
attractions in this area, and all the other buttons on this website.
Don't miss the aerial photos.
Please ask questions or make an informal offer by email or
this form.
Our E-mail addresses are:
OBLIGATORY GENERAL DISCLAIMER:
The information above has been obtained from sources
believed reliable. While we do not doubt its accuracy, we
have not verified it and make no guarantee, warranty or
representation about it. It is your responsibility to
independently confirm its accuracy and completeness. Any
projections, opinions, assumptions, or estimates used are
for example only and do not represent the current or future
performance of the property. The value of this transaction
to you depends on tax and other factors which should be
evaluated by your tax, financial, and legal advisors. You
and your advisors should conduct a careful, independent
investigation of the property to determine to your
satisfaction the suitability of the property for your
needs.
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