Santa Monica City Council will decide next Tuesday whether to proceed with plans for redeveloping the Bergamot Arts Center on Michigan Avenue.
But even if the city decides to lease the site to Worthe Real Estate Group next week, it will be several years before any major changes take place, officials said. The project was initially proposed in 2014 and Worthe beat out two other companies to win the deal.
The current proposal calls for the five-acre property to be redeveloped into 65,700 square feet of gallery space, 30,000 square feet of creative office space, a 21,100-square-foot museum, 9,000 square foot of additional art space and a seven-story hotel, according to Santa Monica Next.
The current space is home to five buildings occupied by art galleries and fashion designers.
The hotel is currently the largest point of contention, though it’s cited as an important source of revenue to operate the public art space. Just five of the 11 members of an advisory committee created to research the project support the hotel. The committee is mostly made up of gallery owners at the center and community members.
If the council decides to move forward Tuesday, the plans will be open to additional community input before a final vote. [SaMo Next] — Cathaleen Chen