A three-story mixed-use building planned for one of La Jolla's busiest corners cleared a key review hurdle Tuesday, Aug. 18, after architects overhauled the facade in a single week to address committee concerns.

The La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee recommended approval of "The Pearl," a 17,172-square-foot project at 941–945 Pearl St. that would replace the former Ogden's One Hour Cleaners site with six residential units, ground-floor retail space the applicant hopes will become a restaurant, and a 10-spot basement garage, according to lajolla.ca. The project now heads to the La Jolla Community Planning Association for a full presentation Friday, Sept. 4.

The vote followed a rapid redesign by Safdie Rabines Architects. At the committee's Aug. 11 meeting, trustees had flagged the building's flat, unbroken wall along Pearl Street as a problem and asked the team to return with more articulation, landscaping details and information about traffic on Drury Lane. Within a week, architect Taal Safdie's team added corner windows and bay windows, pushed balconies and walls inward to break up the horizontal massing.

The changes won over skeptics.

"I love the way that you solved the articulation problem," DPR trustee Glen Rasmussen said at the Aug. 18 hearing. "I think that's really going to go a long way to acceptance of this building."

At the Aug. 11 meeting, Rasmussen had called the Pearl Street facade "a rather long, vertical structure" that would "shock a lot of people," as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The approval motion passed with trustee Angeles Leira opposed. Leira wanted more sidewalk space along the building's frontage. DPR Chair Brian Will, an architect himself, abstained as is his custom. At the earlier Aug. 11 session, Will had voiced support for the project's density, saying the Girard-and-Pearl corner was the right place "to start that trend of some density."

The Pearl would demolish the existing single-story commercial building on a lot stretching from Girard Avenue west to Drury Lane. The new structure includes one deed-restricted affordable unit among its six residences, which range from 1,300 to 1,600 square feet with two bedrooms each. The affordable unit triggers one incentive and three waivers under city rules, including a floor-area-ratio increase from 1.7 to 2.4.

Traffic on narrow Drury Lane remains an open question. Safdie told the committee no official traffic count had been completed but predicted a "great reduction" once the existing AT&T store parking is removed. She described current conditions at Drury and Pearl as "a bit of a free-for-all, and it shouldn't be," and said the team would consider making Drury one-way or restricting left turns onto Pearl.

The La Jolla Planned District Ordinance Committee, which met Monday, Aug. 17, indicated no further PDO review is needed now that DPR has approved the project, according to DPR trustee Greg Jackson's account of PDO Chair Deborah Marengo's position.

Residents can weigh in when The Pearl comes before the LJCPA on Friday, Sept. 4.