Local Drug Store Will Be Primary Tenant in City-Owned Building on PCH

• Council Rejects Call for Lumberyard

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council, at its meeting this week, unanimously approved an agreement with Super Care Drugs, Inc. for a 10-year lease for a 3000-square-foot space in the city-owned building located at 23661 Pacific Coast Highway.
At the meeting, council candidate Mike Sidley asked council members to the strike the deal, saying the community needs a lumber and hardware store more than another drug store. Sidley suggested the need for a lumberyard is so great that he could endorse a rent subsidy for that kind of retail operation.
That gave council members a chance to explain why they had agreed upon Super Care.
Besides choosing a local business, they said the arrangement provides a rental income stream to the city, which members said is very important.
Mayor Sharon Barovksy explained that the local business’s lease was up and, if no new quarters were found, one of the oldest locally-owned operations would be leaving Malibu.
The mayor chastised Sidley for his criticism of the Malibu Lumber Yard deferred loan, while the candidate is now calling for a subsidy for a private business.
“That is a gift of public funds. We can’t do that,” she said, adding that there might be room for a lumberyard or hardware store in the proposed La Paz development.
Super Care is expected to open within six months or no later than Aug. 8, according to a staff report.
The fixed minimum lease will initially start at $144,000 per year and, by the tenth year, the rent will run at $182,416 per year.
The total square footage of the building is 4848 square feet.
Councilmember John Sibert said the city went out of its way to solicit an Anawalt store or a Do-It-Center. “We could not come up with the numbers. I would like to see one too,” he said.
Councilmember Andy Stern also took Sidley to task for suggesting a rent subsidy. “I know you were against the Lumber Yard deal, saying we were giving away money. Now you are asking us to give away money,” said Stern, adding that Super Care met the criteria of the city in terms of being a previously established business and being able to allow the city to take in enough revenue to meet the city’s needs. “A lumberyard doesn’t work,” he said.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner confirmed the municipality’s efforts to find a lumber/hardware business for the building. “We took a lot longer trying to get a lumberyard,” said Wagner, offering an explanation for why the building has been vacant for nearly one year. “We just could not make it happen,” Wagner added.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich addressed how a development agreement with the La Paz project might possibly help place a lumberyard. “It is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole,” she said.
The staff report indicates the city is continuing to seek a tenant for the remaining 1848 square feet in the PCH building, and the staff will bring another tenant back to the council for a final agreement.
The mayor acknowledged the council had met earlier in closed session to discuss another tenant. “Super Care is taking up about half the building. The other half will probably be with what used to be Mail Boxes, Etc. [and is now Malibu Business and Shipping Center], if we can offer them a place to stay.”
No reportable action was taken to finalize the deal, according to City Attorney Christi Hogin.
At one time, several hardware stores had offered bids on the building and the city was also considering renting it out to several other applicants, including the developers of the Malibu Lumber Yard as a mini-mall.
In other action, Sidley was better able to influence the council when he asked members to put on the agenda a resolution endorsing the vote for a $198 parcel tax sought by the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District.
“There are dire predictions if we do not pass the $198 tax. It is incumbent upon the city to show support,” he said.
The mayor spoke to the question. “I would like to address Mr. Sidley’s request to agendize it,” she said.
City Manager Jim Thorsen said the earliest available agenda would be for the first meeting in March. Everyone concurred.