Topanga Ranch Motel May Get Rebuilt With SM Hotel Money
Written by 991KBU on May 10, 2019
The old Topanga Ranch Motel may get rebuilt …. after the Coastal Commission slapped the biggest fine in the agency’s 40-year history on a Santa Monica hotel.
The 15 and a half million dollar fine was slapped against the owner of a Santa Monica luxury hotel … where the owner did a “bait-and-switch” development.
Much of the money could go to rehabilitate the old topanga Ranch Motel … the dilapidated old 1930s Motor Court on Pacific Coast Highway at the gateway to Malibu.
A company called Sunshine Enterprises knocked down the moderately priced Travelodge and Pacific Sands Motel in Santa Monica … and promised to build an affordable replacement … as required by the coastal commission as it enforces the 1976 coastal act.
That lot requires affordable beach accommodations be built.
The company said its rooms would cost $164 per night.
Instead …. The Shore Hotel was built to a luxury configuration … with brooms that go from between $300 to $800 per night.
One commissioner said the agency “should issue a decree they have to knock the damn thing down.”
In addition to the 15 1/2 million dollar fine … sunshine Enterprises is also on the hook for another $6 million or so in mitigation costs.
Commissioners said that they wanted to see dozens of replacement rooms created either at the current hotel or nearby.
Money from the fine will likely be used to add 26 moderately priced individual rooms to the Santa Monica Hostel near the Pier.
And also … to renovate the historic 30-room Topanga Ranch Motel.
That old motor court has sat vacant on state land near Malibu for 15 years.
