Manhattan Beach Mayor Breaks Stride With Previous Skechers Votes

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Breaking from her previous consistent votes to be the lone dissenter to not allow Skechers to work on its Sepulveda Boulevard construction project on city holidays, Manhattan Beach Mayor Suzanne Hadley did not pull the item from the consent calendar to state her opposition. The scenario played out in the last Manhattan Beach City Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Previously, Hadley has pulled the Skechers construction item, when the company asks to be allowed to have construction work continue on city holidays, and did so most recently as Mayor Pro Tem at a City Council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6. At the time she said, "I don't like exceptions. It smacks of favoritism to me. Everyone should be treated equally in the city of Manhattan Beach."

She noted that she'd voted against similar requests for construction work at the same location in January and February for the Martin Luther King, Jr. and President's Day holidays. Skechers is adding 20,000-square-feet of office space to its existing 55,000-square-foot office building. The expansion is into space previously occupied by a car wash.

"I still expect this to pass," she said when she pulled the item in October. "I'm a 'No' on this. I adore Skechers. I adore Michael Greenberg. He's an amazing philanthropist in our city but I would not be having as many exemptions from any business or any resident that kept coming so for consistency sake, I told the mayor I'd pull this."

When asked about the change of heart, she told Manhattan Beach Patch, "I was told by CMB [City of Manhattan Beach] staff that Skechers said these two requests for holiday exemptions are the final two asks for current construction. Further work on holidays will be inside only; they will not need to ask for a city exemption for inside work. That is good news so I did not oppose the request."

At its Jan. 5, 2021 meeting, city council approved Skechers for construction work at 330 South Sepulveda Boulevard for the 2021 Martin Luther King, Jr. and President's Day holidays with a unanimous vote that included Mayor Hadley, Mayor Pro Tem Stern and council members Joe Franklin, Steve Napolitano and Richard Montgomery.

The project, under McCarty Building Companies Inc., began in April of 2019 and is currently occurring at the main levels of the office building, according to the city staff report. The project adds office space to the Skechers two-story commercial building and subterranean parking garage and extends an entire block length from Duncan Avenue to Longfellow Drive.

As pointed out at previous city council meetings, the surrounding residents have not voiced any complaints about the Skechers construction project being conducted on city holidays.

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