About the Building
Park Plaza is an eighty-eight home condominium of 1976 at 515 Ocean Avenue, and the Los Angeles County Assessor confirms it as a genuine for-sale condominium. The roll carries parcels legally described as Condominium Tract 31404, Condominium Unit one through eighty-eight, each returning a condominium use description, along with a single later parcel that combines mapped units seventy-seven and seventy-eight into one assessed home. That is why some directories report eighty-seven and others eighty-eight: eighty-eight units were mapped, and one combination has since reduced the number of separately assessed homes by one.
The published disagreement about height resolves the same way, through the unit numbers. The assessor's roll shows homes numbered from 301 to 308 upward through 708 in two series, one suffixed North and one suffixed South, capped by eight penthouses lettered NPHA to NPHD and SPHA to SPHD. Five numbered floors of eight homes in each of two wings gives eighty, and the eight penthouses complete the eighty-eight. Residential occupancy therefore begins on the third level and runs across six levels, which is how one set of sources arrives at six storeys and another at eight.
The homes are unusually large for the corridor. Assessor records give 1,490 square feet at the smallest sampled, 1,865 square feet for the common two-bedroom and three-bathroom plan repeated through both wings, 1,900 square feet on an upper north home, and 3,175 square feet with three bedrooms and five bathrooms on the penthouse level. A condominium directory publishes a range of 1,490 to 3,175 square feet, matching the assessor's figures exactly at both ends. That is unusually clean corroboration between an aggregator and the public record. That agreement removes most of the doubt about the plan mix in the building.
The site explains how that scale was achieved. Assessor records give a lot of roughly 67,407 square feet, about an acre and a half, carrying eighty-eight homes and their parking, with a Santa Monica R4 designation on the roll. On a parcel that size a developer of the mid-1970s could build two wings around a landscaped deck with the pool and terrace between them and put the parking beneath, which is consistent with the two-wing unit numbering and with the sundeck and pool that directories describe. Confirm the arrangement on the recorded condominium plan.
The amenity programme published for the building is the fullest of any address on this list: around the clock concierge and doorman coverage, valet parking, a heated pool, spa and sundeck, a fitness centre, conference and banquet rooms, four elevators, additional storage and controlled access, with dry cleaning and dog walking described as services rather than facilities. These come from condominium directories rather than from the association, and staffing levels, shift patterns and any facility currently out of service are questions for management. There is a registered Park Plaza Condominiums Homeowners Association behind the building.
Amenities & Services
The Residences
Every mapped home carries a North or South suffix, and within each wing the floor runs 301 through 308, 401 through 408 and so on to 708. Eight homes per floor per wing across five numbered floors accounts for eighty of the eighty-eight, with the penthouse level supplying the rest. The odd numbers and even numbers sit on opposite sides of each wing's corridor, which is the standard double-loaded arrangement of the period. Which side a home falls on determines whether it looks west over Palisades Park and the ocean or east across the city.
The assessor's roll returns 1,865 square feet with two bedrooms and three bathrooms for homes as far apart as 302 South, 502 South and 301 North, which tells you this is the building's core plan rather than an outlier. At that size a two-bedroom home has genuine separation between the primary suite and the second bedroom, a formal entry and a dining area that is a room rather than a corner. It is a larger two-bedroom than most towers built in the following two decades on this coast, and it is the reason the building attracts downsizing buyers.
The smallest home sampled on the roll is 1,490 square feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. On a corridor where the view is the asset, the smaller plans often carry the highest figure per square foot because they put a buyer into the address at the lowest absolute number. A directory reports a recent asking figure around two and a half thousand dollars per square foot on a home of exactly this size. That is aggregator data rather than a closed sale, but the pattern it describes is consistent with how corridor buildings price.
Eight homes are lettered rather than numbered, four in each wing, and the assessor gives 3,175 square feet with three bedrooms and five bathrooms on the ones sampled. Five bathrooms on a three-bedroom plan indicates ensuite provision throughout plus staff or powder rooms, which was the mid-1970s convention for a top-floor home of this scale. These trade rarely and are configured individually, so area, terrace provision and ceiling height can vary between them. Take the numbers from the recorded plan rather than from a marketing sheet. Ask specifically what outdoor space is included and how it is classified in the governing documents.
The park is on the western side of Ocean Avenue, so west-facing homes look over public open space to the water and east-facing homes look inland across the city. Both have a case: the western elevation carries the outlook and the afternoon light, the eastern carries the morning sun, the mountain view on clear days and materially less wind and salt exposure on the glass and railings. In a building with four elevators and two wings, ask specifically which car serves the home and how far the walk is from it.
Directories describe valet parking alongside self-parking and additional storage. In a building of eighty-eight homes with subterranean structure, the difference between a deeded space, an assigned space and a valet-stacked space is a real one, and it does not always match what a listing says. Read the title report for what is actually conveyed, ask the association how guest parking is handled on an evening when the banquet room is in use, and confirm whether any storage locker is deeded to the home or licensed by the board. Storage lockers in buildings of this era are frequently licensed rather than owned.
Due Diligence
The assessor carries Condominium Tract 31404 units one through eighty-eight, plus a later parcel combining mapped units seventy-seven and seventy-eight into a single assessed home. Directories report both eighty-seven and eighty-eight; both are right depending on which number is being counted. Voting rights, assessment allocation and any combination approval are governed by the CC and Rs, so if you are buying a combined home ask how it votes and how it is assessed.
Los Angeles City Ordinances 183893 and 184081 do not reach Santa Monica. Santa Monica adopted its own programme in March 2017 under Ordinance 2537, codified across municipal code chapters 8.58 through 8.80, covering unreinforced masonry, concrete tilt-up, soft-story, non-ductile concrete and steel moment frame buildings constructed under codes enacted before 10 November 1980. Notices were issued to identified properties between May 2017 and August 2018, with compliance clocks running from the notice date.
The programme's priority tiers place non-ductile concrete and steel moment frame buildings in tier four and soft-story buildings of three or more storeys in tier two. A 1976 building rising to eight levels with subterranean parking falls within the pre-1980 window on age alone. Whether it was noticed, what category it was assigned and what the engineer's evaluation concluded are documented questions. Ask the association for any Building Officer order and the evaluation report filed in response.
Condominiums are generally exempt from Santa Monica rent ceilings under Costa-Hawkins, but a narrow exception applies to condominiums in buildings completed before 10 April 1979 where the tenancy began on or before 1 January 1996. A 1976 building is inside that window. If the home you are buying is tenanted, establish the start date of the tenancy and the unit's registration status with the Santa Monica Rent Control Board before you remove contingencies.
The building faces Palisades Park on the seaward edge of the city and sits within the California Coastal Zone. Exterior alterations, changes to glazing and anything affecting public views or shoreline character can require a coastal development permit as well as a city permit. Santa Monica approved a Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan in 2018 and signed a memorandum with the Coastal Commission in 2026 aiming at certification by the end of 2027, so confirm which body reviews a given project.
Civil Code section 5550 requires a reserve study at least every three years with a visual inspection, reviewed annually by the board. On a bluff-top building of this age the items that dominate the schedule are the exterior envelope and its sealants, the balconies and railings, the four elevators, the pool plant and the subterranean garage waterproofing. Read the reserve study alongside the last five years of assessments and ask what has been deferred rather than what has been completed.
Around the clock concierge, doorman and valet coverage is what distinguishes this building from most of its neighbours, and it is also the largest recurring line in the budget. Head count, shift patterns, whether engineering is in-house or contracted, and whether staff are employed by the association or by a management company all change the exposure. Ask for the current operating budget and the staffing schedule, and ask what the association's workers compensation and employment practices cover looks like.
Santa Monica bans vacation rentals of thirty consecutive days or less where the primary resident is not present, under chapter 6.20 of the municipal code adopted in May 2015, and the rule applies to condominiums. Separately, California Civil Code section 4741 prevents an association setting a rental cap below twenty-five per cent of units while allowing it to prohibit tenancies of thirty days or less. Ask what rule this board has adopted and how many homes are currently let.
Everything above is drawn from public records, city permit data and published sources. The association’s statutory disclosure package is the only authoritative answer on dues, rules, reserves, insurance and litigation — Ben will request it and read it with you before you remove contingencies.
Common Questions
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