Blatteis & Schnur Wins $27M Loan for Santa Monica Project

Blatteis & Schnur has secured a $27.4 million construction loan for a three-story retail building on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

The Sawtelle-based developer landed the money to build the 22,500-square-foot building at 1404-1408 Third Street, the Commercial Observer reported. It will replace a 77-year-old commercial building razed last summer.

Civitas Capital Group, based in Dallas, supplied the nonrecourse loan. The deal was arranged by Sonnenblick-Eichner, based in Beverly Hills.

A construction timeline was not disclosed.

Blatteis & Schnur bought the 14,600-square-foot building in 2019 for $24.5 million, after securing a $17.6 million acquisition loan, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. The building was fully leased by Lush and Chilli Beans, with offices overhead home to the Promenade Playhouse.

The replacement building will have 50 feet of Promenade footage for a “built to suit retail flagship,” according to the Santa Monica Daily Press, which cited a brochure at the time of sale.

The new building will have walls of glass facing Third Street and a 2,500-square-foot roof deck with views of the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s less than a block from the Nordstrom-anchored Santa Monica Place and seven blocks from the Santa Monica Pier.

Until 2020, businesses on the Promenade were limited to traditional retail and commercial uses.

During the pandemic, Santa Monica rezoned the historic retail district to include housing, liquor stores, hotels, medical offices, tattoo parlors and more.

Blatteis & Schnur, founded in 1922, bought a 35,000-square-foot vacant storefront at 1415 Third Street once occupied by a Border’s bookstore in 2010 for $26 million, according to its website. After leasing it to Apple and building a new store, it sold the property two years later for $58 million.

— Dana Bartholomew