Gladstones Restaurant, Parking Lot Will Undergo Coastal Review

A rendering of the 17,712-sq.-ft. restaurant proposed as a Gladstone’s rebuild.

The proposed Gladstones restaurant and parking lot rebuild is on the California Coastal Commission (CCC) agenda for October 8. Commissioners will be asked to approve the replacement of the current 10,183-sq.-ft. facility with a 17,712- sq.-ft. restaurant. Public parking will go from 212 parking spaces to 148 and include a bus turnaround and parking spaces for waiting buses.

Resident Todd Sadow discovered the hearing when he was looking at the CCC agenda. “The agenda also described adding Big Blue Bus and Metro public transportation stations and reducing the public parking significantly. I brought the ‘transportation station’ issue to Pacific Palisades Community Council especially out of a concern for the implications regarding SB 79 and the possibility it could trigger major development issues from multifamily projects in Castellammare,” Sadow said. “[County Supervisor] Lindsay Horvath’s office has been involved with the development and kept us out of the loop.  There has been some communication with Zac [Zac Gaidzik, Horvath’s Coastal Field Deputy] who had the CCC change the language from public transportation stations to bus stops even though the CCC mailer clearly describes stations and the CCC staff report says there will be bus layover areas where drivers can rest,  rideshare drop off area in addition to the bus terminal.”

Restauranteur Wolfgang Puck and architect Frank Gehry won the right to rebuild a new “Gladstones” in 2018. The winning design was exhitbited at meeting was held in Caruso’s Palisades Village in 2019, to allow Palisades residents to see the plans that would replace the existing and iconic seaside eatery, located at the base of Sunset Boulevard at 17300 Pacific Coast Highway.

This was the winning restaurant design presented during the June 18, 2019 presentation.

Then the Covid Pandemic put everything on hold, shutting down the existing Gladstones from March through June 2020.

Thomas Tellefsen representing the concessionaire, PCH Beach Associates, went before the Pacific Palisades Community Council on June 24, 2021, to talk about the proposed project.

At that PPCC meeting, the Area 1 Representative Joanna Spak said residents were concerned about noise from outdoor events and lights. Tellefsen said he would meet with residents to address concerns. That meeting never occurred.

In September 2022, the L.A. County Supervisors approved the Gladstones rebuild project. (Will Rogers State Beach is owned by the State of California, operated by the County, pursuant to a management agreement and located in the City of Los Angeles.)

The County approval stated, “Concessionaire’s proposed project will involve demolition of all existing improvements at the site, replacing them with a new, approximately 12,500 square foot, 450-seat restaurant, and a new 2,700-square-foot, 100-seat public viewing deck containing a 700 square-foot food and beverage service station. In addition, Concessionaire will repave and reconfigure the existing public beach and restaurant parking lot and add a bus turnaround for Metro and Big Blue Bus Lines.”

Three years later, after the Palisades Fire displaced many, some residents received a notice at the end of September.  For others, it has been word of mouth about the October 8 hearing. Comments had to be received by October 3 click here..

Resident Ivo Venkov wrote “All of us from the Lower Castellammare area, which is directly adjacent to the project, kindly request that more time be granted for our community to thoroughly review the latest proposal. Five years ago, the project was presented to us in a general manner, and we have not received any updates since.

“It appears that this CCC approval hearing has been hastily scheduled in the aftermath of the catastrophic Palisades Fire, which devastated our town and left many of our neighbors homeless or still evacuated,” Venkov said. “Given the current circumstances, it is highly insensitive to rush a half-baked redevelopment concept through the Coastal approval process. Furthermore, the project involves a significant traffic disruption on PCH, one of the busiest arteries in our city. We currently have no data indicating Caltrans’s involvement in the process thus far.”

There is no Caltrans data, yet. California Coastal Commission Public Information Officer Joshua Smith was asked about it, and he sent CTN information from p. 32 of the staff report.

PRIOR TO COMMENCEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION: The Permittees shall provide to the Executive Director a copy of a permit, or letter of permission, or evidence that no permit or permission is required for the project by the following entities: U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers; California Department of Transportation; California State Lands Commission; California Department of Fish and Wildlife; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Regional Water Quality Control Board; and Los Angeles County Flood Control District.

Castellammare resident Cindi Young, who was displaced after the fire, wrote “In the body of the staff report the bus ‘stop’ actually provides not just a turnaround loop but ‘bus layover area for driver rest times.’ This is not a simple bus stop and turnaround loop and partly responsible for the serious reduction in parking,” Young said. “While the staff report concludes the parking will be reduced from 212 current spaces to 148, the actual number of single public spaces will be reduced to 67 and 24 are restricted to EV use leaving only 43 single unrestricted parking spaces.  There will be inadequate parking spaces for beachgoers and restaurant patrons and there is no discussion about employee parking except that they may receive incentives to use public transportation. This may result in backups onto PCH in both directions and overflow into Castellammare in attempts to park. A formal traffic study should be performed.”

To read the Coastal Commission staff report, which recommends the project going forward click here.

In that report construction is described as a “new 17,712 sq. ft. restaurant on caisson a grade beam foundation with a 2,094 sq. ft. public deck with seating, two public restrooms, a snack bar, and a retail shop; 9,000 sq. ft. of landscaping; improvements to the 212-space public state beach parking lot including the addition of a Big Blue Bus and Metro bus stops resulting in 148 parking stalls (including 74 valet-only stalls), and water quality upgrades.”

CTN reached out to Hovath’s public information officer about the discrepancy in what the county approved and the proposal in the CCC report. The county approved a 12,500-sq.-ft.  restaurant click here. If Horvath’s office replies, the story will be updated.

(Editor’s note: Horath’s public spokesperson Constance Farrell replied at 10:20 p.m. “In 2022, the Board approved the option to enter into a concession agreement. At that time, the proposed project included a restaurant of approximately 12,500 square feet with 450 seats. The Board’s action did not constitute a permit or approval of a specific, narrowly defined project. If it is later determined that additional approvals from the Board are required, those would be sought accordingly.”)

This commission meeting will be held at 300 N. Harbor Drive in Redondo Beach and via  Cal-Span and virtual participation is being conducted through the Zoom format.Public comments may be made in person or virtually, to participate Coastal Commission Public Participation Procedures.

Written comments had to be made by 5 p.m. today, October 3. Commission staff will attempt to distribute to the Coastal Commission comments made or received after 5 p.m. the Friday before the hearing, but staff may be unable to post those comments online.