The former Metlox Potteries site was an environmentally remediated empty lot three blocks from the Manhattan Beach Pier, a void separating the Civic Center from the City’s main shopping street. The City of Manhattan Beach purchased the property and sponsored an urban design competition between teams of private developers, architects and planners with the goal of developing a project to best serve the community and create a public gathering space within the city.

Through a highly public process, Peter Tolkin Architecture developed a mixed use project containing shops, restaurants, services and a boutique hotel, organized around a square connecting the main street to the City Hall. Also included is a new below grade parking structure which serves the development as well as provides much needed parking for the whole downtown.