Monday Morning Quarterback

Monday Morning Quarterback

(Monday, November 24, 2025)

As lawmakers scramble to turbocharge post-fire recovery efforts in Los Angeles and to tackle a housing shortage across the state, a new addition may be coming to California’s building code: A pause button. It’s called Assembly Bill 306. Assembly Bill 306 would freeze building standards (the rules governing the architecture, the layout, the electrical wiring, the plumbing, the energy use and the fire and earthquake safety features) for all new housing through at least 2031. Local governments, which often tack on their own requirements, would also be kept from doing so in most cases. Building standards tend to reflect the state’s most pressing concerns. New seismic requirements are added after major earthquakes, home-hardening requirements have followed deadly fires and new green energy mandates have popped up as California has raced to prepare for a warmer planet. This latest proposed change to the code is meant to tackle another crisis: affordability. The bill 306 wouldn’t delete any of the current rules, which are widely considered to be among the most stringent of any states. It would also include exceptions, most notably for emergency health and safety updates. But on the whole, the California building code would be set on cruise control for the better half of a decade. Plenty of environmental advocates, renewable energy industry groups, construction unions, structural engineers and code enforcement officials have turned out to oppose the bill. They see it as a radical upending of the way the state regulates buildings, reduces emissions and prepares for a changed climate. Stay tuned. In other real estate investor news, let’s get under the hood…

One City’s Idea to Tackle the Housing Crisis: Take the Stairs. In late September, Culver City became the first municipality in California to legalize the construction of mid-rise apartment buildings with a single staircase. Unless you’re a member of the niche but fervent subculture of architects, urbanists and pro-housing advocates who clamor for “single stair reform,” this might not sound like big news. But it is revolutionary. Supporters say it could be the key to unleashing the kind of urban apartment building boom that years of pro-development legislation in Sacramento has tried, and so far, failed, to deliver. Culver City apartments up to six stories tall can now be built around a single stairwell. But conditions apply: These buildings must be on the small side — each floor maxes out at 4,000 square feet with no more than four units. They’ll also have to abide by an array of added fire-prevention measures. That’s a break from the standard minimum of two staircases (connected by a corridor) required of buildings taller than three stories in nearly every other city in the country. For YIMBYs and other champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a surprisingly buzzy and enduring cause. It’s one weird trick, they say, that can turbo-charge urban housing construction at a modest and more affordable scale while also promoting apartments that are bigger, airier and better lit. “This is bigger than a staircase,” said Bubba Fish, the Culver City councilmember who introduced the single-stair ordinance. “The vast majority of the world builds apartments this way. We are an outlier. It touches on the housing crisis, the affordability crisis.” But it’s not just a numbers game. Single-stair apartment buildings are vibe enhancers, say supporters. Allowing architects to design apartment buildings that wrap around a central staircase makes it easier for them to include units with windows on multiple sides, meaning more light and more air. Culver City’s cap of four units per floor also nudges design away from efficiency apartments toward roomier digs that might appeal to families.

Senate Bill 79 (SB 79). Have you heard about Senate Bill 79? This statewide bill broadly upzones areas near transit. Senate Bill 79 (SB 79), authored by Senator Scott Wiener, upends zoning across LA County. Buildings of up to 7 stories will be allowed near subway stations, and of up to 6 stories near light rail, Metrolink or BRT stops. The Bill has been passed by the state legislature and was subsequently signed by the Governor. The bill’s authors rejected good faith efforts by preservationists to improve this bill with a series of amendments that would have protected and planned for California’s historic places. Senate Bill 79 creates two tiers of “transit-oriented development stops” in the state and applies different heights and densities accordingly. The two tiers and how they will affect Los Angeles County are as follow:

Tier 1 – Only applies to the “heavy rail” B and D lines, serving Downtown, Hollywood, North Hollywood, Koreatown and Mid-Wilshire. The bill upzones these areas to the following heights and densities:

* Within 1/4 mile – 75 feet, 120 units per acre, F.A.R. of 3.5

* Within 1/2 mile – 65 feet, 100 units per acre, F.A.R. of 3.0

Tier 2 – Applies to the many “light rail” lines including the A, C, E, K, and the future East. San Fernando Valley line, BRT lines such as the G, J, Silver Streak, and the future North Hollywood to Pasadena line, and Metrolink stations with over 48 trains per day (only Glendale, Downtown Burbank and Union Station currently meet this requirement). The bill upzones these areas to the following heights and densities:

* Within 1/4 mile – 65 feet, 100 units per acre, F.A.R. of 3.0

* Within 1/2 mile – 55 feet, 80 units per acre, F.A.R. of 2.5

The Los Angeles Conservancy opposes the bill for the following reasons: SB 79 is bad for preservation. Historic buildings, neighborhoods, and districts would be stripped of protection, thereby fast-tracking demolitions of places important to our history and heritage. Most SB 79 projects would be approved without city or community input. This would open the door to speculative, harmful development. L.A.’s historic places would have few remaining safeguards. SB 79 is weak on housing. The bill provides only weak, minimal standards for the creation of new affordable housing and likely will accelerate the displacement of more existing residents. Cities in California are already required to plan for and provide zoning capacity for projected housing through state-mandated Housing Elements, something L.A. has already done through the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (“CHIP”), adopted by the City in February. SB 79 ignores this work and the thoughtful input of our communities. If you want to visualize what SB 79 would look like at the transit stop in your neighborhood, look at the photo below.

Brentwood Landmark in Jeopardy. One of my favorite architectural buildings in Brentwood is the Barry Building. Completed in 1951, the Barry Building was designed by local architect Milton Caughey for owner David Barry. It quickly became an important part of the postwar commercial development along San Vicente Boulevard. The two-story, flat-roofed building is built around a central open courtyard, with very simple outward-facing façades. It has elements of the International Style and features simple lines, a horizontal orientation, and expanses of courtyard-facing windows. Curving, cantilevered stairways connect the second story to the courtyard below. The building’s best-known occupant was Dutton’s Bookstore, a fixture for over twenty years. The bookstore was so legendary that many people still refer to the building as Dutton’s. The unusual courtyard layout exemplifies modern ideals of integrating indoor and outdoor spaces, in a rare commercial application. Longtime owners seeking demolition for more than a decade and intentionally allowing the Barry Building to deteriorate now want the City to sign off on demolition for nothing more than a vacant lot. There is no plan for development or a viable reason to demonstrate why this 1951 Modernist building cannot be preserved or adaptively reused. The fate of the Barry Building relies on a unique process within the City’s code. Most proposals to demolish a historic resource in L.A. involve some kind of development project, but the owners of the Barry Building are simply proposing to demolish the building for a vacant dirt lot. Because of this, the application is being processed by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) rather than the Department of City Planning and therefore does not go through the normal review process. The process began with the preparation of an environmental impact report (EIR), before consideration by the City’s Cultural Heritage Commission. Unfortunately, in June 2025, LADBS certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (“FEIR”) and adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations (“SOC”) , which allows for demolition of the designated Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM). That decision was appealed by neighborhood advocates Angelenos for Historic Preservation. The Barry Building and Coral Tree Median (center median along San Vicente Blvd.) are designated Los Angeles landmarks (Historic-Cultural Monuments #887 and #148, respectively). Every effort should be taken to avoid the demolition of these designated landmarks, which would call into question the City’s ability to protect our cultural heritage when clear adaptive reuse options exist.

North Hollywood’s Defunct Valley Plaza Was Once A West Coast Legend. Demolition is underway at the Valley Plaza, a shopping center in North Hollywood. The razing comes after years of vacancy and a vote to declare six of its dilapidated buildings a public nuisance. But did you know that this was once one of the most popular and important architectural shopping centers on the West Coast? The Plaza first opened in 1951 at the corner of Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards, and with it, the San Fernando Valley began a new era. Post-war, the suburbs were rapidly growing, and this center was right in the middle of all the action. The shopping experience we know today (where you can go to one large location and find every store you need) was just starting to take shape. When developer Bob Symonds designed Valley Plaza as an open-air shopping center, it was believed to be one of the first of its kind in the United States, especially one to do so at such a scale. His “ultra-modern” plaza got national attention for a few reasons. For one, Symonds is credited as a pioneer in Southern California for recognizing the potential of putting retail hubs next to freeways. Most developers were still focused on boulevards. He also put hundreds of parking spots in front of the mall, rather than in the back, which was normal practice. The “mammoth” shopping area, as it was hailed, was ultimately special because it brought together a huge range of stores. Sears opened its largest location at the time in the U.S. at Valley Plaza (it apparently smelled like popcorn, too). Sears joining was the key to getting other companies onboard. Thrifty also opened a store, signing the longest lease in its history at the time for 25 years. Valley Plaza was a roaring success…at least for a while. It brought in $100 million in annual sales in its first five years and was a big employment boost for the community. The Plaza would later expand to cover more than 1 million square feet, ranking it as one of the largest in the nation. In the decades after, Valley Plaza slowly declined. The area’s demographics shifted, meaning shopping habits changed, and vacant spots in the center weren’t replaced with similar quality stores. The Plaza’s future was also hard to plan because it had dozens of owners at one point, ranging from corporations to a 90-year-old widow, according to UCLA research. But one event may have sealed its fate: the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. According to an L.A. City Council motion, many of the buildings were red-tagged, and tenants who didn’t have the capital for repairs got evicted. It’s not known yet what will happen to Valley Plaza once demolition is completed, but some say it will be sorely missed.

Bed And Breakfast for Your Smartphone. IKEA has furniture for every occasion. If you need it, they have it. IKEA has everything. Well, not everything. I thought, why not have furniture for our smartphones? Yep, you heard me correctly. Consider this; when you go to bed at night, you slide into your bed and pull the covers over you, right? Well, why shouldn’t your cellphone have the same comforts of home? After all, with all those calls, texts, and ChatGPT searches your cellphone is exhausted at the end of the day. So, when night comes, it needs to sleep too. To solve this dilemma, I proposed to IKEA that they create a miniature bed for our cellphones. That’s right – a bed for your cellphone. Plus, the bed would have a recharger built into the mattress so that your phone can quite literary “recharge” overnight. And as you tuck your cellphone into bed at night, you would also buy a miniature blanket to keep your phone warm and cozy. (And be sure to turn off the ringer so your cellphone is not disturbed overnight.) Truly the perfect holiday gift for the phone addict who has everything. IKEA loves my idea…I think (they promised to get back to me before the end of the century).

Basic Training Investing Boot Camp. Saturday, December 13, 2025, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, will be our semi-annual Basic Training Boot Camp. Everything you ever wanted to know about real estate investing but were afraid to ask. Iman Cultural Center, South Hall, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Los Angeles, 90034.The cost of the Boot Camp is $149.00 per person if paid before December 6, 2025. Ther after the prices increases to $249.00. (Gold Members and former Boot Campers can attend for FREE, but still need to register.) So don’t wait to register. Plus free parking. Please register at our website: LaRealEstateInvestors.com.

This Week. Looking ahead, investors will continue to watch for additional information about tariffs and monitor comments from Fed officials for hints about monetary policy later in the year. With the end of the shutdown, investors will be waiting for updates to the schedule for the release of government economic reports. The September Producer Price Index (PPI), a monthly inflation indicator, is scheduled for Tuesday. New Home Sales is scheduled for Wednesday. Markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Weekly Changes:

10-Year Treasuries: Fell 010 bps

Dow Jones average: Fell 990 points

NASDAQ: Fell 700 points

Calendar:

Tuesday (11/25): Producers Price Index

Tuesday (11/25): Pending Sales

Wednesday (11/26): New Home Sales

For further information, comments, and questions:

Lloyd Segal

President

Los Angeles County Real Estate Investors Association

Lloyd@LARealEstateInvestors.com

www.LARealEstateInvestors.com

310-792-6404