Downtown Manhattan Beach Is Being Redrawn One Parking Stall at a Time

On Oct. 24, Skechers put its building at 228 Manhattan Beach Blvd. up for sale. That made it the third major downtown property in play this fall, along with the former U.S. Bank at 400 Manhattan Beach Blvd. and the Lot 3 site at 1155 Morningside Drive. All three sit within a few blocks of Metlox Plaza. Most of the coverage has focused on renderings, rooftop patios and building heights. The most precise figures in the city's own record are stall counts, though, and each of these properties comes down to a decision about where cars go.

MB News reported that the Skechers building is a nearly 30,000-square-foot, three-story office that will be delivered vacant. CBRE is selling it through a competitive bidding process. Under it is a private, three-level underground garage with 69 stalls. The interim public lot at Lot 3 also has 69 spaces. One private garage holds as many cars as the public lot that replaced the old parking structure, and that comparison says a lot about how tight downtown is.

Downtown's Parking Count

At the Sept. 15 City Council meeting, City Traffic Engineer Erik Zandvliet explained the numbers, as Easy Reader reported. When the Lot 3 structure was demolished in November 2024, downtown lost 145 spaces. The city found about 80 replacement spaces on nearby streets and built 69 more in the interim surface lot. That leaves downtown "about five parking spaces more than we've ever had before." The city's parking management study still found downtown about 150 spaces short for current business needs. It would be another 150 short if existing parcels built out to the levels the code allows.

Here is where each property stands.

The First Change Shows Up at the Old Bank Lot

The city bought the former U.S. Bank site for $13 million last year. Tearing the building down to build a 41-space lot would have cost $216,000. The Council chose instead to keep the building, install payment kiosks and open the lot's 26 existing spaces as paid public parking. Staff estimate that would bring in between $243,000 and $275,000 a year. The official minutes record the direction as "substantially maintaining the existing conditions and install parking kiosks."

The change moves other drivers too. The lot now serves as overflow for merchant permit holders, the people who work downtown. Turning it into paid public parking moves them somewhere else. Staff suggested Lot 7 off Valley Drive. Councilmember Steve Charelian objected that "Lot seven is packed." Mayor Joe Franklin suggested asking Vons about its underused rear lot, and staff agreed to raise the idea in their talks with Vons. The city's parking programs page still lists 400 Manhattan Beach Blvd. as temporary overflow parking for merchant permit holders, with 26 spaces. The city has not yet published a start date or rate for the paid kiosks.

Who controls the Vons property is less simple than the store sign suggests. According to Easy Reader, city staff and the city's economic development consultant, Kosmont Companies, learned over the past year that Vons owns only the southeast corner of its parking lot. It holds a long-term lease on the rest of the site, including the store building. Kosmont has contacted the underlying owner. The Council gave the partnership talks a 90-day limit and asked for an update by Dec. 1, 2026. As of late October, the merchant permit question was part of those talks.

The Eight Spaces on Morningside

The most detailed parking discussion of the night was about one short block. Gensler's preliminary concept for the bank site shows a pedestrian plaza on Morningside Drive between Manhattan Beach Boulevard and 11th Place. Retractable bollards would close it for art walks, pop-ups and events, and it would stay open to two-way traffic the rest of the time. That block has eight spaces today, five diagonal on the west side and three parallel on the east. Under the plaza concept, the striping would come off and the block would become a loading zone.

Councilmember Amy Howorth described them as "the parking spaces that you zip into" for a stop at Health Nut, Noah's or Peet's. Zandvliet said roughly six of the eight could stay available on most workdays, but any plaza would need a loading management plan. Mayor Pro Tem Nina Tarnay supported keeping the idea alive. "We're planning for the next 50 years," she said. The Council told staff to keep studying the plaza and to come back with answers on traffic, deliveries and the diagonal spaces.

The building itself is tied to parking too. The Gensler concept has three ground-floor retail or food-and-beverage spaces totaling about 6,500 rentable square feet. Above them is a 5,100-square-foot creative office, with 16 surface stalls behind the building that separate it from the homes on 11th Place. The Council asked staff to look at a larger building with a smaller lot and fewer spaces, and to study smaller ground-floor tenant spaces. Kelly Stroman, executive director of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association, objected to the largest proposed space, at 4,100 square feet. She said a space that size invites big business rather than downtown's small-town feel.

The project also runs on a financing clock. According to Easy Reader, the tax-exempt certificates the city used to buy the property mature July 1, 2028, and must be refinanced before construction. If the site is leased to private tenants, the city's municipal advisors found the refinancing would cost about $128,000 more a year, or about $3.8 million over 30 years. Every councilmember agreed the city should find a private development partner rather than build the project itself.

Lot 3 and What Each Stall Costs

Lot 3 is less urgent. It already brings in parking revenue and carries no debt. Its cost per stall still explains why the Council moved cautiously.

An engineering study found that an underground tunnel connecting Lot 3 to the Metlox garage was feasible, but the tunnel alone would cost about $15 million. Here is what each underground stall would cost under each option, as reported by Easy Reader.

• Two underground levels with the tunnel: $387,962 per stall
• Three underground levels with the tunnel: $311,904 per stall
• Three underground levels without the tunnel: about $201,610 per stall, for 136 spaces
• Above-ground structured parking, for comparison: about $100,000 per space

The Council dropped the tunnel. The two concepts still on the table both sit over three levels of underground parking. Concept A puts retail and restaurants on the ground floor, up to two restaurants on the second floor and an enclosed community room with a rooftop patio on the third, for 129 stalls. That is 16 fewer than the structure that came down. Concept B fills the first two floors with parking, keeps the community space and patio on top, and provides 202 stalls. Councilmember David Lesser asked staff to preserve, for the next council, "the choice of whether to have a public space on the top or make it parking in the interest of cost."

Skechers Is Selling Its Own Garage

The Skechers building is the one property the city does not control, and it comes with something the city has struggled to build. KTLA reported that the building was originally built in 1982, renovated in 2018, and has about 28,600 square feet of office space above its 69-space garage. It could also hold ground-floor retail along Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The building also houses a Skechers apparel store, and KTLA reported it was still listed on the company's website with regular hours. KTLA also reported it was not clear why Skechers is selling, whether employees will move or what will happen to the store.

Skechers has a bigger presence in the area than this one building. In 2019, the company announced an expanded office at 330 South Sepulveda Boulevard, a new Manhattan Beach office across the street, and planned executive office and design center buildings on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach. When it announced its 2025 acquisition by 3G Capital, the company said it would stay headquartered in Manhattan Beach. Skechers also sponsors the 38th Annual Skechers Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks Festival at the Pier on Dec. 13.

The Dates Ahead

The next decisions are already on the calendar, and two holiday events will test downtown parking this season.

1. Oct. 28. The Planning Commission's agenda included a public hearing on zoning text amendments to building height limits for Lot 3 and 400 Manhattan Beach Blvd. The Gensler concept for the bank site reaches 30 feet to the top of the parapet, four feet above what the city's coastal zoning currently allows.
2. Nov. 3. Election day for two City Council seats, with four candidates on the ballot, Richard P. Montgomery, Amy Howorth, Mark Burton and Joseph Ungoco, according to the city's elections page.
3. Nov. 18. The Pier Lighting and Holiday Open House runs from 6 to 9 p.m., with the pier lighting at 7 p.m. and street closures downtown.
4. Dec. 1. Staff report back to the Council on the Vons talks and on bond financing for the bank site.
5. Dec. 13. The Holiday Fireworks Festival runs from 3 to 8 p.m., with fireworks at 7 p.m. and extensive downtown street and parking closures.
6. Dec. 15. The two newly elected council members take office. This council will decide Lot 3 and choose between 129 and 202 stalls.

The city's Project Pulse page collects the design packages and meeting materials for both city-owned sites.

If you own downtown property, run a business there, or hold a commercial building nearby, these decisions may affect your plans. The Mackenbach Group follows these Council and Planning Commission decisions as they happen and can walk you through what they mean for your property. Request a Private Consultation.