New Horizons in Store for Santa Monica’s Fabled Third Street Promenade

For thirty years, upscale shopping destination Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California has attracted Los Angeles residents and tourists alike to its scenic and unique outdoor shopping and dining charms. A short walk from the beach and Santa Monica Pier, it quickly became an iconic mainstay of Southern California; a destination attracting millions of visitors each year.

But retail centers everywhere today have felt the pinch of online competition and changing consumer habits, and Third Street Promenade is no different.  And so, the famous street is preparing for a major facelift, its first since 1989.

There was a time, not so long ago, when retailers here would practically fight over the chance to take over a vacancy – rare as they were. The likes of Apple, Anthropologie, Barnes & Noble, American Apparel and many more, were mainstays. Fast-forward to today’s retail world and American Apparel is no more and Barnes & Noble has moved on. The current vacancy rate at the property stands at 7%, high by its standards.

Determined to do something about it, local government, with groups such as the nonprofit Downtown Santa Monica Inc., are drawing plans to reinvigorate the area and bring the masses back. Downtown Santa Monica’s CEO, Kathleen Rawson, has been working with community and business leaders to find a way forward. “It certainly is time to cast some new energy into the street and just modify how we’re doing things to adapt to people’s changing tastes,” she says.

Getting close looks are such ideas as revitalizing public spaces, including areas for performers; outdoor dining; and new and interactive water features, along with required infrastructure changes, to make the overall experience a key destination again.

The stakes are high. Several local L.A. shopping malls have raised the ante and drawn foot traffic their way, including Westfield’s Century City Mall, which recently undertook a billion-dollar renovation and has found success with it.

Design and engineering firms are already engaged with Rawson’s group, and they point to promise ahead: the new Metro Expo Line extension that brings visitors directly to the property; ongoing and engaging renovations to nearby Santa Monica Place; and recent experiments with outdoor seating and entertainment, which were hits with the public. 

Santa Monica’s burgeoning “Silicon Beach” effect has also begun to change the ways Third Street Promenade is evolving. As stores move out, office spaces have crept in to fill some of the void. Two of these that have had a promising impact are WeWork and Work Well Win, which has taken over the Barnes & Noble space and reimagined it.

With bright spots like these, and the plans being drawn up for sweeping new changes, Rawson feels there’s reason for optimism that the crowds will return as before.

“If you invite them to come,” she insists, “they will.”