The company behind the 360 degree immersive ‘dome’ entertainment activation set for the former site of Parking Structure 3 has pulled out of its agreement with Downtown Santa Monica, Inc (DTSM) because of difficulties with funding. The project had already faced delays and missed its original opening date of March of this year.
A Request for Proposals (RFP) appeared on the DTSM website late last week, for "Immersive Outdoor Temporary Use (1318 4th Street)" — the address of the Parking Structure 3 site.
Once upon a time, the project consisted of two, 360 degree immersive entertainment domes, very much like the Sphere in Las Vegas, that has been attracting a lot of attention. However, for a variety of reasons that stemmed from the search for the best interactive experience possible, the layout was changed to feature two domes, each 50ft in diameter plus four smaller domes.
The activation was to focus around a brand new animated universe aimed at children that centers around an indigenous little girl, named Haibu, who possesses the ability to speak to animals. The DTSM board of directors voted unanimously to move ahead with the activation in November of last year
"Haibu’s World has withdrawn from the agreement with DTSM, Inc. We wish them the best in all of their future endeavors. We are re-issuing the RFP and hope to identify a suitable operator for the site as quickly as possible," DTSM CEO Andrew Thomas said in a statement to the Daily Press.
Blake Freeman, founder of Haibu Media Group, said, "The immersive park was being funded by a third party and unfortunately the timing of the funding commitment couldn’t meet the timeline to open. We are disappointed and would have liked to see the original idea come to fruition but it was out of the control of our company."
He added, "We are very supportive of DTSM and have elected not to hold up another project that can activate the site for future use."
It is not yet known if, or how, this will affect the other, related Haibu projects.
The deadline for any RFPs is Friday, September 13, 2024 at 4pm PT. According to the DTSM instructional PDF, follow-up interviews, as needed, will take place on Wednesday, September 18 and a notification of intent to award will be issued on Monday, September 23, in time for the next DTSM board of directors meeting scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 26.
The demolition of Parking Structure 3, located on 4th Street between Santa Monica Blvd and Arizona Ave, began in March 2022 following a failed legal effort to stop the project. Since 2018, the City has been working on a plan to demolish the 50-year-old parking garage and replace it with a multi-level affordable housing project, which would include ground floor retail and subterranean parking.
However, since demolition was completed in November 2022, the site has remained empty amid continued concern over the local economy. According to DTSM, the City is expected to break ground in 2025, which is why in the original request for proposals — that Haibu ultimately won — it was made clear that the license agreement would be for a period of 18 months.
Consequently, any new installation that does move into this space, will only be able to remain there for a limited amount of time. This is confirmed in the RFP guidelines. "The term of the proposed license agreement for the 1318 4th Street outdoor temporary use will be for up to (10) months, with the possibility of a month-to month extension thereafter, if authorized by the developer of the site, EAH Housing, and the City of Santa Monica," it says.
