Pretty, Expo-Adjacent Office Space Rising on the Grave of the Bergamot Transit Village

The old Papermate site in Santa Monica was once destined to become a big, mixed-use complex that incorporated retail, residential, and office space (Bergamot Transit Village), but after seven years and, more recently, some serious backpedaling, developers Hines threw in the towel and sold the site to new owners who want to use the enormous old factory as pure office space. The new office park, going by the name Pen Factory (in a nod to what Papermate used to make here), will be about 204,000 square feet of offices, says Santa Monica Next.

Designed by a team led by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, the new project will take the existing 196,317 square-foot building and add 7,499 square feet to it, plus reuse a currently vacant building on the site for more office space. New owners Clarion Partners are also adding a one-story underground parking structure with 446 spots, and demolish the easternmost building on the site, according to a city website for the new office park.

Upgrades to the area will include pedestrian pathways through the site, "linear gardens" outside, new glass entry walls, and plenty of new courtyards and decks for workers to hang out on. The new office complex will be right next to the Expo Line's future 26th/Bergamot station.

All this new office space could be great for Santa Monica, where such space is increasingly hard to come by. However those who opposed the Bergamot Transit Village on the grounds of traffic concerns might still have something to worry about. While the Pen Factory is smaller than the office component that BVT was supposed to have (375,000 square feet), it was still predicted to generate thousands of car trips a day in and out of the area.

· Taking a Closer Look at the New Transit-Adjacent Papermate Site Project [SMN]
· New Owner of SaMo's Old Bergamot Transit Village Site Wants It All to be Office Space [Curbed LA]
· Santa Monica's Bergamot Transit Village Giving Up and It Could Be Even Worse Than Development [Curbed LA]