Massive Digital Billboards Rise at Santa Monica Place as Downtown Struggles with Vacancies

Roads around Santa Monica Place in downtown Santa Monica are blocked off today as crews install large electronic billboards on the exterior of the shopping center.

The work is part of the city's new Digital Display District, which permits up to 16 digital screens-each as large as 1,000 square feet-on corner buildings along the Third Street Promenade and on four faces of Santa Monica Place. The City Council approved the ordinance in late 2025 (final adoption in January 2026), and the California Coastal Commission signed off on the relevant development agreements in April. Installation of the first displays began in August 2026.

Santa Monica Place was long owned by Macerich, a major national mall operator. The property has been in deep financial trouble: Macerich defaulted on a $300 million loan, and a court-appointed receiver (Trigild IVL) now controls the assets and is the operator for the four displays at the mall. (Prism Places has been handling day-to-day management.) The mall's value has dropped sharply, and it has carried vacancy rates approaching 70% in recent years. Downtown retail overall remains challenged; a RAND study earlier this year put vacancy on the Promenade itself at roughly 31%.

Supporters say the bright screens are meant to make the area look more lively and occupied while generating new city revenue (projected at $3.5–7 million annually if all 16 displays are built) to help fund revitalization under the city's Realignment Plan. Each display requires a $500,000 one-time community-benefit payment plus annual payments of at least $500,000 or 20% of gross advertising revenue.

Critics call the displays garish and unnecessary. They argue the screens will change the character of the district, add light pollution, and amount to little more than a surface-level fix for deeper problems-including persistently high vacancies and several multi-million-dollar properties in foreclosure or distress.

It probably won't hurt, but it still feels like too little, too late.