Redcar Plans Mass Timber Office Building in Santa Monica

Redcar Properties has upgraded plans for a 47,300-square-foot office building in Santa Monica.

The locally based developer led by Jim Jacobsen unveiled a new look before the city Architectural Review Board for the three-story building proposed for 1630 Euclid Street, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The project, presented to the same board in August, would replace a 7,300-square-foot commercial building west of Memorial Park.

The office building was designed by Culver City-based House & Robertson Architects, which led the design for the distinctive stainless steel ribbon façade at the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

Its upgraded design for 1630 Euclid includes a “hybrid” mass timber building topped with rooftop solar panels above a two-level underground garage.

The offices would include floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by outdoor balconies and stairways, according to renderings. A rooftop deck would be shaded by a trellis canopy.

In a report, Santa Monica planning staff recommended the Architectural Review Board approve the project, according to Urbanize.

The proposed offices, revised from brown to white with wood trim, is a sister project connecting to a 39,000-square-foot building Redcar built next door at 1650 Euclid. The two buildings will attach on each floor, according to Urbanize, and the parking levels at 1630 Euclid will be accessed through the next-door building.

In February last year, Redcar filed plans to build a 75,000-square-foot office building at 3122 Nebraska Avenue, which would replace two mid-century industrial buildings.

The firm has built projects in Culver City and in Chinatown. In August, construction was underway for its five-story office complex in Chinatown, among the first in Los Angeles built of cross-laminated timber.

— Dana Bartholomew