The Sun received an e-mail from a Clarington Ave. resident (which we have placed on our Letters Page) comparing the new Victor on Venice mixed-use project to a fortress, and after visiting the place with a camera, your editor has to agree.
It's —
THE FORTRESS OF
GRAY-ITUDE! —>
We expected to see a Bat Car emerging from the underground garage at any minute.
Don't get us wrong. We think the project will be a boon to the neighborhood. We support the conversion of the project to condominiums in order to increase home ownership in our community. The benefits to the community are manifold:
(a) $150,000 homeowners' assistance program to help write down the interest rate. (b) Upon receipt of the tentative tract map, two to three months later, funding into escrow a $100,000 fund to be spent in this neighborhood for beautification or other purposes, such as traffic-calming devices, (3) payment of a Quimby fee of $6,000 a unit (for recreation and park purposes) which can be earmarked for the Palms neighborhood — at 115 units that figure is $690,000.
Yes, this is all good stuff.
But what happened to the light and airy building that was presented to and approved by the Palms Neighborhood Council some two years ago?
This one:
Kate Bartolo of the sponsoring Kor Group makes no excuses for changing the look of the building to what she calls "Art Deco." Beauty, she averred, is "in the eye of the beholder."
But what is this on the company's Web site about its "rapid progress on new Kor apartments in Culver City Media District"?
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Do these people not even realize what city they are in and to whom they will pay taxes?
Victor on Venice is actually situated in PALMS, within the Pacific Electric Historic Business Area and the Studio Residential Area.
It is really insulting for this big project, which has relied upon the goodwill and support of the PALMS Neighborhood Council and the neighbors around it on Clarington and Dunn, all of them in HISTORIC PALMS, to claim that it is in Culver City when it is not.
The rents in this fortress, by the way, will range from $1,710 to $3,512 a month — more if you have a pet.
Those figures, actually, are one reason The Sun supports turning the units into condos. Who wants to throw that kind of money down a rental rat hole for very long?
We hope that the Kor group takes the time to answer these questions for the benefit of our community.
Kor, your neighbors want to know.
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