Diico Properties Plans Hotel and Apartments in Santa Monica

Diico Properties has unveiled the look of a builder’s remedy hotel-apartment project in Santa Monica.

The Beverly Hills-based developer led by Ely Dromy has revealed renderings of the eight-story building at 1420 20th Street, in Mid-City, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. It would replace a 10-unit apartment complex.

Plans call for a 40-room hotel and 50 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments above 1,299 square feet of shops and an underground garage for 62 cars.

Diico filed the project under the state builder’s remedy, a loophole in state housing law that allows developers to bypass local zoning rules in cities that failed to certify their required housing plans, if they include 20 percent affordable housing.

The Santa Monica complex will include 10 affordable units, replacing the 10 apartments that currently take up the site.

The white and olive building, designed by Venice-based Ottinger Architects, contains exterior balconies partially wrapped in metal screens, and includes a rooftop deck.

While its housing element was out of compliance in 2022, Santa Monica received a flurry of applications for builder’s remedy projects, which ignored zoning regulations to limit height and density.

The city eventually reached a settlement regarding most of those projects, which are instead being processed ministerially by staff, according to Urbanize.

Diico Properties, founded in 1976 by Dromy as the Dromy International Investment Corporation, specializes in condominium conversions. The company owns properties in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew