The Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority and the City of Santa Monica have settled a lawsuit over the price of land at the Downtown station.
Santa Monica will receive $20 million for a nearly 34,000-square-foot plot of land at 402 Colorado Ave., where the terminus station has opened.
In October 2014, the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority filed a lawsuit against the City of Santa Monica seeking eminent domain and declaratory relief relating to the compensation for land on Colorado Avenue owned by City Hall.
The City and Expo disagreed on the price.
In their original filings, both sides agreed the property was purchased with rail reserve money derived from the Transportation Development Act. However, the City maintained it has complied will all agreements and requirements related with Expo. The city claimed Expo and its contractors had occupied the site without just compensation but they did acknowledge, and reject, an initial offer of $14.4 million.
The 6.6-mile Expo extension runs from Culver City to Santa Monica and includes seven stations: Palms, Westwood/Rancho Park, Expo/Sepulveda, Expo/Bundy, 26th Street/Bergamot, 17th Street/Santa Monica College and Downtown Santa Monica.
The Expo Line to Santa Monica was built by the Exposition Construction Authority. The project broke ground in 2011 with heavy construction beginning in 2012 and in February of this year, the project was turned over to Metro, which will operate the line.
Ridership on the new portion of the Expo Line is projected to total 18,000 to 20,000 weekday boardings after the first year of service. The travel time from Downtown L.A. to the Downtown Santa Monica station is 48 minutes. Expo service begins each day at about 4:45 a.m. and continues until about 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends. Trains will run every 12 minutes until about 8 p.m., after which service will be every 20 minutes.
