SANTA MONICA — City officials will be reviewing the Santa Monica Art Studio’s (SMAS) lease and submitting a report this week. SMAS is a public art venue famous for its location in a hangar next to the Santa Monica Airport (SMO) and for providing exhibition spaces to artists for an affordable price.

The space is 26,500 square feet in size and is required by contract to sublease its space to artists at an average rate of $1.50 a month per square foot, highly affordable compared to what other venues charge in the city.

The report is being put together because all airport leases have to be audited before they expire next year. City officials believe that in two years, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) contract with the SMO, which requires the FAA to keep the airport open, will expire.

Over the past 10 years, City Hall gave an estimated $4 to $6 million dollars to SMAS, allowing it to rent its space for a very cheap rate of 37 cents a month per square foot, and this rate increased to 43 cents a month per square foot because of inflation.

City Hall is taking in $9,885 per month from SMAS, which is less than one-fourth of what office spaces near the airport pay City Hall. City officials will investigate the affordability of the sub-rents at the SMAS. Yossi Govrin, the director of SMAS, has not revealed how much artists are currently being charged for using the studio space.