At its meeting today, the Santa Monica Planning Commission is scheduled to take up consideration of a proposed mixed-use development near Metro's 26th Street/Bergamot Station.

The project, which is being developed by WS Communities, would rise from a roughly 74,000-square-foot site at 3030 Nebraska Avenue, replacing a collection of small industrial buildings.  Plans call for the construction of a four-story edifice featuring 183 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments with 8,473 square feet of ground-floor retail space.  Five subterranean levels would sit beneath the building, featuring 51,883 square feet of offices and parking for 395 vehicles.

The proposed building, designed by Michael W. Folonis Architects, would be clad in materials including stucco, board-formed concrete, corrugated metal, and cable rails.  A design concept submitted by the architect indicates that the facade materials were selected due to the industrial character of the surrounding area.

Plans call for a U-shaped footprint, allowing for a large courtyard to be carved into the center of the property and a new pocket park fronting Nebraska Avenue.  AHBE | MIG is serving as the project's landscape architect.

A staff report recommends that the Planning Commission should approve the 3030 Nebraska development, though it also suggests that a condition be placed on developer WS Communities restricted the use of 40,000 square feet of basement space for anything but residential amenities.  Should that basement space be activated for non-residential uses, the project would not be eligible for the guarantees of the State of California's Housing Accountability Act.

The proposed development is one of a handful of mixed-use buildings in the works near Metro's 26th Street/Bergamot Station, including another project designed by Folonis a block north along Stanford Avenue.

A short walk away on Colorado Avenue, construction is now underway for another residential-retail development at the former site of a mobile home park.