SR-405-002 (4)
Council Meeting: December 9, 2003 Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council Members
Chairperson and Redevelopment Agency Members
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: RFQ and RFP selection process for Developer/Design Teams for
the Development of the Village, Civic Center Specific Plan
INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that Council provide input on the proposed selection
process for the selection of Developer/Design Team(s) for the Village component
of the Civic Center Specific Plan. In the first step, the City would issue a Request
for Qualifications (RFQ) for the purpose of developing a list of qualified
developer/design teams. The City would then issue a Request for Proposals
(RFP) to the most qualified developer/design teams. From the proposals
received, the City would select one or two developer/design team(s) for the
development of the Village, including buildings, open space, mews, and
associated infrastructure.
BACKGROUND
The current draft Civic Center Specific Plan (November 18, 2002) proposes
housing and open space elements within the area known as the Village
(Attachment A). The Village is located on a portion of the property purchased by
the Redevelopment Agency, is adjacent to the RAND building currently under
construction, and is bounded by Main Street on the east, Ocean Avenue on the
west, Vicente Terrace (currently under construction) on the south, and the
proposed extension of Olympic Drive on the north.
The Civic Center Specific Plan envisions the Village as an urban neighborhood
with low and mid-rise rental housing structures (some with retail space) that are
closely integrated with the proposed public open space and mews. Up to a total
of 325 apartments may be constructed on three individual housing sites in the
Village known as Sites A, B, and C. At least 160 of the apartments are required
to be affordable to very-low and low-income households. The structure built on
Site A will be 100% residential and very low-income housing, and the structures
built on Sites B and C will be mixed-income housing, and will include a total of up
to 20,000 square feet of neighborhood and visitor serving commercial uses on
their ground floors facing Ocean Avenue.
DISCUSSION
As proposed in the Civic Center Specific Plan, the Village will incorporate various
apartment types to attract a diversity of households, including large and small
families, singles and seniors, and artists, and will feature a range of affordable
and market rents. Site A is proposed for 100% very-low-income families and
100% residential. Sites B and C, as proposed, are different housing products
because they will be constructed for tenants with a mixture of incomes, and will
feature retail space on the ground floors.
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Given the proximity of the housing sites and the vision for a “neighborhood,”
compatible architectural styles and materials are desirable as are coordinated
construction of the associated infrastructure, buildings, and open space.
One option for achieving the development of the Village is the selection of a
single development/design team to develop the three housing sites, the open
space, mews, and associated infrastructure. Selecting two development/design
teams may be preferable if a review of proposals received suggests that the
different development products (one mixed-used, mixed income housing, open
space, and infrastructure, and the other 100% residential very-low income
housing) would best be developed separately by teams with primary expertise in
one of the two types of housing products. If the City selects two
developer/design teams, very close coordination between the teams and with the
City will be required in planning for and implementing the development of the
Village.
A critical requirement of the developer/design team or teams selected through
the RFP process will be to conduct an intense, dynamic, and collaborative
community planning process of short duration that will yield an urban design for
the Village that is both economically feasible and representative of the shared
vision of the community. Staff debated the merits of having a design competition
first, without developer involvement, but decided that bringing together the best
talents and experience of developers and their strong design teams in one
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community process would result in well-designed projects that take cost into
account and stand the best chance of being realized as designed.
The tentative timeline to issue the Request for Qualifications is December 2003
or January 2004, and the Request for Proposals in Spring 2004 or Summer 2004
after the Environmental Impact Report and Civic Center Specific Plan are
approved by City Council. Staff plans to recommend one or two
developer/design teams to the Redevelopment Agency and City Council in late
Summer 2004 or Fall 2004. The community planning process would likely occur
in late Fall 2004 or early Winter 2005.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Request for Qualifications (RFQ
)
Responses to the RFQ will be evaluated using the following criteria: the
development/design team’s experience in successfully completing comparable
developments; financial capacity; understanding of the Civic Center Specific
Plan’s vision for the village; demonstrated ability to comply with the City’s policies
and guidelines and related proposal submission requirements; and the strength
of the required multi-disciplinary design team’s experience in innovative and
community-responsive design, public art integration and community outreach. A
limited number of developer/design teams will be invited to participate in the RFP
process.
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Request for Proposals (RFP) and Contracting
An RFP will be prepared and issued to teams successful in the RFQ process.
Responses to the RFP will be reviewed and ranked against specific criteria to be
developed before the RFP is released. Staff will recommend one or two
developer/design teams to the City Council and Redevelopment Agency. After
selection, the City will enter into exclusive negotiating agreements with one or
two developers, and will execute Disposition and Development Agreements. The
intensive community outreach process discussed previously will convene after
the selection of the developer/design team or teams.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council and the Redevelopment Agency provide
input on the proposed developer selection processes for the Civic Center Village.
Prepared by: Jeff Mathieu, Director, Resource Management Department
Suzanne Frick, Director, Planning and Community
Development
Barbara Stinchfield, Director, Community and Cultural
Services
Andrew Agle, Assistant Director, Planning and Community
Development
Karen Ginsberg, Assistant Director, Community and Cultural
Services
Bob Moncrief, Manager, Housing and Redevelopment
Ron Barefield, Housing Administrator, Housing and
Redevelopment
Attachment: A – Civic Center Specific Plan Illustrative Plan
See PDF file attachment to this staff report
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