SANTA MONICA, CA-Local developer John Warfel, principal of Metropolitan Pacific Capital, has acquired the Criterion Theater complex on the Third Street Promenade shopping street from an unnamed family trust. The $50-million residential mixed-use project is slated to include 37,000 square feet of retail space, 12,000 square feet of office space and 32 apartment units.

“Pedestrian oriented areas and urban infill are our specialties,” says Warfel, who has multiple projects in the pipeline both in downtown Santa Monica and in the Old Pasadena shopping area of Pasadena, CA.

Santa Monica is a famously difficult place to win approval for new development, which Warfel says works to his advantage. “It’s difficult to get things approved, and the real estate is expensive also,” he adds. In the end, however, “you end up with a high value per square foot.”

Other MPC projects in Santa Monica include a 64,000-suare-foot mixed-use project on the Third Street Promenade, comprising a 12-screen multiplex, 78 rental housing units in two new buildings and 17,000 square feet of retail.

Nearby, the developer is in a venture with the Bond Family Trust to build a $25-million, 40-unit apartment complex with 8,500 square feet of retail space at 519 Santa Monica Blvd. The design is by David Forbes Hibbert Architects. 

With another family trust, MPC is redeveloping the Mayfair Theater at 210 Santa Monica Blvd. property into a $25-million, 38-unit apartment project with 8,200 square feet of retail of ground-level retail at 210 Santa Monica Blvd. 

And in a fourth project, the City of Santa Monica has selected MPC to redevelopment a city owned parking structure on Fourth Street into a 12-screen multiplex in partnership with AMC Cinemas.  This $40-million development will incorporate an IMAX theater with a  caf