WS Communities wants to build another mixed-use development in Downtown Santa Monica, which would be the fourth residential project for the local developer in the area. Several more are in the planning stages, according to the company.
The NMS Properties-affiliated firm presented plans for a 94-unit building on an infill site at 501 Broadway, according to Urbanize. The firm plans 7,260 square feet of ground-floor retail.
The eight-story property would replace a single-story commercial building at the corner of 5th Street, a few blocks from the Santa Monica Place shopping mall.
It’s WS Communities’s second filing in Santa Monica since the city attorney alleged in a lawsuit earlier this year that WS Communities Principal Adam Shekhter used “unlawful tactics” to pressure tenants to leave rent-controlled units.
In May the firm filed for a 50-unit affordable project on 7th Street. That follows last year’s 190-unit proposal on Nebraska Avenue and a 40-unit proposal on Lincoln Boulevard. The firm lists more than a dozen others under “future projects” on its website.
WS Communities is a spinoff of Neil Shekhter’s NMS Properties. The latter has been locked in a legal battle with former partner AEW Capital Management since 2014 over the sale of nine Westside properties. A judge ruled in favor of AEW last fall, but NMS attorneys said they continue to pursue claims of fraud. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch