[regboi21]

do you all think the developer should keep the acres of books building intact and just build the new buildings around it like demolish the other buildings on the site then the owner of the building/book store wont have to move to another location also what buildings is being planned for the art exchange project.

[LAMetroGuy]

Plans Underway To Remodel Building

http://www.gazettes.com/Resources/oceancenterbuild.jpeg
http://www.gazettes.com/Resources/oceanblvdcut.gif

By Kurt Helin
Editor

The Ocean Center building is a link to Long Beach’s past — built in 1929, it was at one end of the old Pike’s Walk of 1,000 Lights.

Now the owner wants to make it a vital part of the city’s future.

Plans are working their way through the city for a $30 million remodel of the building into an 86-room, high-end boutique hotel. There also would be some condominium units, 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and more.

All of this would be done while saving the historic look and feel of the building, said Mark Akhavain, who is a principal in the development group.

“The beautiful thing about this building is not just the look, not just the history, but the location,” Akhavain said of the building on the corner of Pine Avenue and Ocean Boulevard downtown. “Right now, there is like a wall at Ocean between the Pine and the Pike. We think this can be a bridge between the two.”

His plans for the site are sweeping.

There would be an entrance to the hotel off Ocean Boulevard. In one of several steps to return the building to what it looked like when it was built, large glass windows would replace the two-story white walls currently facing Ocean Boulevard.

Inside, Akhavain said the goal is to create the style of boutique hotels seen in the older cities of Europe as well as places such as New York City. There, historic buildings are converted to hotels with the exterior remaining the same and even inside many of the historic features (such as mahogany doors) reused.

“Then, you walk into a room and boom, it’s 2007,” Akhavain said. “All the latest technology, flat-panel televisions, modern room colors. The rooms will be fantastic.”

Also in the building will be 26 loft-style condominiums, ranging in size from 600 to 1,500 square feet, Akhavain said. Residents of the condos would have full access to the hotel services — the gym, room service and maid service, for example. These condos could be lived in full time or rented out (something managed by the hotel).

Outside of the building, there would be several changes to help the area. For example, the currently steep walk down Pine Avenue next to the building would be made more pedestrian friendly — there would be benches, possibly some stairs and other things to entice people to move between the Pike and Pine Avenue, Akhavain said.

These style of boutique hotels are a growing trend right now and Akhavain said he and his partners are in the process of opening several, including one in downtown Los Angeles near Staples Center. Called the O Hotels, the group also is looking at a similar idea near LAX, one in New York and several other locations.
“There is a lot of demand for people who want to go somewhere and have the charm and feel of the city, not just stay in another national chain,” Akhavain said.

Long Beach residents may know Akhavain better as the owner of The Basement, a trendy spot in the East Village.

All of the plans for the Ocean Center would eventually displace the numerous businesses currently using it as home. That includes a call center for Verizon as well as a number of the city’s arts groups, including the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and the Arts Council for Long Beach, which have their headquarters in the center.

Akhavain said that when he bought the building two years ago, he let all the tenants know both his plans and a timeline. He also recently extended all their leases for another year, giving those in the building time to make more plans. Akhavain said he and his partners are becoming frustrated at just how slow the process is going, particularly with the city.

While he says that Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, City Manager Jerry Miller and other top city staff constantly praise the project, the wheels of the city’s Planning Department are moving far more slowly than he and his partners imagined.

This is a project that is already financed, eventually with more than $30 million in improvements to the building. That money is sitting, ready to go, Akhavain said.

But Akhavain added he knows this is a good project, both for him and for the city.

“Right now boutique hotels are the hottest thing, and there is demand for hotel rooms here,” Akhavain said. “We’re keeping a historic building and improving it. It’s good for the city.”

[CityKid]

Do you happen to know if this is near the Jergins Subway? It would be great if they could reopen that.

[LAMetroGuy]

its right across the street from that, i doubt they would reopen it due to homeless etc. it would be at the base of the proposed Edgewater.

[LAMetroGuy]

According to the Long Beach Community Planning Bulletin, the city of Long Beach has recieved the following New Development Application for the southwest corner of Long Beach Blvd and Anaheim:

1. Conceptual Site Plan Review – 1235 Long Beach Boulevard (Case No. 0612-06)
This applicant is proposing a mixed-use development consisting of a combination of ground floor commercial/retail/office uses; market rate condominiums; low to moderate income rental apartments; and senior housing. In its current configuration, the project consists of three separate tower buildings- two towers would be seventeen stories tall and the third tower would be 10 stories tall. The total number of residential units would be approximately 333, with approximately 38,500 square feet of retail space and approximately 11,000 square feet of office space.

As designed, the project would require changes to the zoning for the area (PD-29) with respect to height limits (current height limit for the area is 150’, the proposed structure is approximately 200’ in height) and density (the maximum density for the area is 1 unit per 400 square feet of lot area, this proposal would increase density to approximately 1 unit per 278 square feet of lot area).

Since this submittal is for conceptual review, no Planning Commission hearing date has yet been set. Additional details will follow as they become available.


This project would be a high density TOD along Long Beach blvd. This makes sense and is what LB should have been doing ever since the Blue Line was built. The corner of LB and Anaheim has the Anaheim Blue Line station! :banana:

[LAMetroGuy]

funny, from the opinon section:

The Long Beach-L.A. Olympics
Article Launched: 02/17/2007 08:06:15 PM PST


We could argue about the name, but there's no better place to stage the 2016 Games.

The prospects of another Summer Olympics in Southern California are looking good, and Long Beach could play a big part in it. So big, that we'd suggest a proper credit: the Long Beach-L.A. Olympic Games.

Maybe the International Olympic Committee wouldn't buy that idea, but there's no question about the impact on Long Beach. Eleven of the venues are planned here, plus several others at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Barry Sanders, chairman of the Southern California Olympic organizing committee, and David Simon, committee president, described plans for the 2016 event at a breakfast meeting hosted by Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and attended by a retinue of Olympic athletes. Only one other U.S. city, Chicago, has made a competing bid.

No offense intended for our friends in Chicago, but that seems like no contest. Two of the venues, aquatics and beach volleyball, would be staged with the gorgeous Pacific in the background, compared to what? A slaughterhouse?

Again, no offense, Chicago, but this is a competitive business, and we're out to win. If Long Beach and L.A. do win, it means defeating not only Chicago but an international lineup of places like Rio, Rome, Tokyo, Madrid, Delhi and who knows where else. Still, because the Summer Games will have been held recently in Europe and Asia and for other reasons, including Long Beach's allure, Southern California looks like a pretty sure thing.

If that happens, Long Beach's venues will include swimming, diving, beach volleyball, rowing, sailing, table tennis, wrestling, judo, team handball and rhythmic gymnastics.

Just as in the 1932 Olympics, rowing competition will take place in Marine Stadium, and to make that possible the Second Street Bridge's support system would be reconstructed to make way for the racing shells. The Olympic Committee would pay for that, and other costs, including security. All events will be staged in existing facilities, such as the Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach, the Convention Center, and, in the case of aquatics, in temporary facilities near the beach.

Poor Chicago would have to build almost all the facilities from scratch, at immense cost. Other cities, as did poor Athens, face immense deficits, possibly in the billions. Only Long Beach and L.A. would be likely to generate a surplus, which could be big.

For those attending the Long Beach breakfast - business people, public officials and the Olympic athletes - this was exciting stuff. For the rest of the town and the region, the possibilities will sink in more slowly.

The U.S. Olympic Committee will choose between the two U.S. bidders April 14. After that come the international bidders. But our bet is on Long Beach.

All right, L.A.-Long Beach.

[InsExchLoft_dweller]

P-T Lofts Get Past Planning

By Kurt Helin
Editor

While the City Council will have the final vote, the Press-Telegram lofts project got a major approval last week from the city’s Planning Commission.

That approval included a number of concessions the developer (October Five Development) had asked for — less parking than city code required, having less of a building setback on the Locust Avenue side of the building, and not having to move the two 22-story towers, as city staff had suggested.

It was clear the Press-Telegram Lofts project had a lot of support — even the commissioner that voted against approving the project praised it. But the majority of commissioners backed it, by a 3-1 vote.

“I wish you all the luck in the world with this project,” said commissioner Morton Stuhlbarg. “I’d like to see you make money doing it so other people follow in your footsteps.”

The Press-Telegram Lofts will bring a dramatic change to the downtown skyline.

It will take over an entire square city block downtown, starting at Sixth Street and Pine Avenue. Above the Press-Telegram and Meeker building facades would rise two 22-story towers containing 542 loft-style condominiums. There would be 32,300 square feet of retail and office space at street level.

Unlike other recent downtown loft projects, this will be not high-end condos but rather “workforce” housing that would be more affordable to average working professionals.

Representatives of businesses in town, such as Memorial Medical Center and St. Mary Medical Center, said they face problems finding housing professionals such as nurses can afford, and it is costing them good personnel. The project also has a deal in place to sell 60 of the units to California State University, Long Beach, faculty at the developer’s cost, helping the university alleviate some of the housing crunch for its staff.

Recently, October Five reached a deal with the Long Beach Unified School District. The district had appealed the environmental work on the project because the towers will leave the International Elementary School in the shade for much of the day. Now, some financial considerations and other steps have been taken, said October Five Developers principal Jim Brophy.

The bottom line, Brophy added, is that this development would be good for the city’s bottom line.

“The project will generate about $62 million in tax (revenue) for the city in the next 10 years,” Brophy said. “Twelve million of that will be set aside for affordable housing, something needed in the city.”

Most of the disagreement last week involved how many parking spaces were proposed.

The developer’s proposal calls for 1,186 spaces to cover the needs of both the residential parking and that of the businesses in the building. Of that, 590 spaces would be tandem parking (two front-to-back spaces shared by one unit).

That is 138 fewer parking spaces than the city code required. Residents from downtown said they liked the project but that parking was already a problem in the area and more spaces were needed, not fewer.

Brophy countered that the CityPlace parking structure across the street was largely empty and if some visitors to his project ended up parking over there, that was not a bad thing.

“I personally don’t see what’s wrong with someone having to spend a few bucks on parking,” Brophy said. “That’s life in a downtown.”

The only commissioner to vote against the project, Nick Sramek, said that he wanted to delay the project while the “downtown visioning process” is taking place. He said that this project is a big change and needs to fit into the bigger picture of downtown.

“We’ve done this before, let a project drive the design and visioning of an area,” Sramek said. “I don’t want to do that.”

The City Council will have the final say on that when it takes up the issue in the coming months

[LAMetroGuy]

The Queen of opportunities

Will the land around the QM be the crowning glory of downtown's development?

By Don Jergler and Kristopher Hanson, Staff writers
Article Launched: 02/23/2007 02:47:02 PM PST

LONG BEACH - It s permanently anchored, a bit run down, beset by financial woes its best quality may be that it s reputed to be haunted.

Aside from its shortcomings, many consider the Queen Mary the jewel of the city. It s not just the ship that has so many charmed, but the bounty of vacant shorefront land that surrounds it.

Thanks to a downtown development rush that s left Long Beach with little remaining space, that long-shunned chunk of property now has the development spotlight cast upon it.

A $1 billion development boom in downtown over the past few years has given the city notoriety as one of Southern California s last affordable seaside communities.

In fact, it has been suggested that you can retire in Long Beach's old Iowa by the sea mantle for something like the new San Diego.

The city s residential boom, where $700,000 condos have become the norm, the expanding port complex, a rising skyline and a growing number of high-paying jobs may soon make Long Beach a smaller version of its bustling and economically diverse cousin to the south, one of the region s top economists said.

In 10 years I think that downtown Long Beach is going to look a lot like downtown San Diego, said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Kyser noted both cities have downtowns by the water, and both areas have embraced tourism, urban living and mass transit with aims at an almost round-the-clock live, work, play environment.

Placing Long Beach's downtown in the same class as San Diego's even with the benefit of 10 years of progress may be a radical notion considering that only two years ago a U.S. Census ranking gave Long Beach the dubious distinction of being the nation s sixth-most impoverished metropolitan city.

However, there are growing similarities: downtown condominiums and lofts are selling rapidly, there are several luxury high-rise residential projects in the planning stages and one can find more than a dozen nightclubs within a short walk.

San Diego has its famed Gaslamp Quarter, and now downtown Long Beach has its own entertainment district a rough-around-the-edges attempt to get nightclubs on unified closing hours and to find ways to beef up security and capitalize on the area s nightlife.

And just like it was with downtown San Diego early on, downtown Long Beach has also struggled to find a retail store presence, Kyser said.

In downtown Long Beach a discount shoe store and a struggling bookseller are among the area s few retailers. Downtown s two shopping centers are spotted with vacancies more than three years after they opened.

However, Kyser and others working to market the area to retailers believe shopping venues will move to the area following an influx of young, higher-paid professionals beginning to move into downtown Long Beach.

With all of the construction of housing in downtown, as you raise that residential population, downtown will get additional retail and entertainment, Kyser said. And when you put together the downtown residential base with the tourism base and combine that with the fact that you have a lot of high-paying jobs coming into downtown, you will have the income base to support a lot of retail.

Queen Mary future
However, the rapid development has led to the depletion of almost all of the area s large parcels of developable land.

That fact puts a spotlight on the city s floating icon.

For years there s been no shortage of ideas on how to make the Queen Mary operation profitable. Suggestions have ranged from turning the ship into a gambling operation to sinking it and making it an artificial reef.

Now the city s marketing experts and economists have their sights set on the property roughly 50 acres around the ship.

That is a major, major opportunity for the city of Long Beach, said Robert Swayze, economic development bureau manager for Long Beach. It ll be the capstone development for the city.

He added, There are not many 40-acre lots on the water in Southern California.

There are restrictions on the land because it s in what is considered a tidelands area. That means state Coastal Commission approval is needed, and development of the land must yield an entertainment-related or water-related usage.

That eliminates a housing project, but a hotel development, a theme park or an office development may be suitable, Swayze said.

You re going to need a smart developer who can work within those restrictions to create a destination development, he said. The city absolutely has interest in the ship. It is an iconic symbol for the city of Long Beach.

Economic outlook
Other than the need for more retail and more developable land, economists generally agree the city s economy will fare well in the coming years.

Overall we re pretty optimistic for the longer term outlook for the economy, said Joe Magaddino, chair of Cal State Long Beach s Economics Department.

Magaddino expects the nation s economy to slow down slightly in 2007, then surge a bit to a decent pace of growth in the next few years.

He expects the Los Angeles area to grow at an even stronger clip, with the county outpacing others in the region thanks to Los Angeles lack of housing development during the superheated real estate market.

Over the past few years, more open areas, like the Inland Empire and Orange County, saw their local economies largely driven by housing construction.

In Los Angeles County, where there is little room for new construction, the economy did not become reliant on housing construction.

So, with the housing slowdown, Los Angeles County won t be dragged down, Magaddino said.

The region s economic stronghold, the service sector, such as health care and hospitality, will continue to expand in coming years, Magaddino said.

Port expansion
Perhaps the city s most important future economic player is its massive port complex, the second-largest in the nation and, with the Port of Los Angeles, the fifth-largest in the world.

Container cargo growth is expected to at least double by 2020, from 7.3 million this year to more than 15 million, spurring tremendous growth in dockside labor, trucking, freight forwarding, brokerage, maritime law and other industries related to international trade.

Already the state is booming with jobs tied to transporting, storing and handling imported cargo.

You look at the number of logistics workers and warehouse workers in the Inland Empire, their economic well-being is really tied to the (ports), said Richard Steinke, Port of Long Beach executive director. It s replacing manufacturing jobs that were lost several years ago.

While the port will continue to be a large part of the local economy, the way it handles business will change. Already, port authorities and state regulators are requiring shippers and terminal operators to conduct business in more environmentally friendly ways.

The Clean Air Action Plan, adopted by both ports in November, is one part of the equation and seeks to force industry to lower air emissions through lease changes and economic incentives.

In 10 years we re going to see more traffic, and we re going to see a more clean and friendly environment, Magaddino said. Kyser agreed. You ll see the ports operating 24-7, Kyser said. You will see improved air quality, because a lot of people are working very diligently on this issue.

Movin on up

The city's ongoing high-rise residential boom may be one of its best business recruitment tools, experts say.

Downtown s revitalization has got a lot of people s attention, said Randy Gordon, president and CEO of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. I think that s going to lure companies here.

He added, Obviously, our location, being halfway between Orange County and Los Angeles, serves us well. And all of this development is really becoming an exciting thing to watch, and I think that is eventually going to lure companies to Long Beach that would not have come to Long Beach originally.

The completion of the West Ocean residential towers on the south side of Ocean Boulevard near the Long Beach Courthouse and the recent opening of the Aqua towers further east promises to bring more residents into downtown.

A massive residential project that would yield the city's tallest buildings behind the World Trade Center is under consideration, and a large residential project at Ocean Boulevard and Alamitos Avenue has been given approval.

One of the residential projects that promises to draw businesses to the area is the MTA project at Long Beach Boulevard and First Street.

The project is being undertaken on city and private property. The developers are Urban Growth Long Beach with the Related Companies. The mixed-use project would provide several housing units, and retail near the Metro Rail Blue Line station.

And creating a synergistic downtown and transportation hub is part of the greater plan to make Long Beach s economy thrive, said Community Development Director Pat West.

It s definitely a total economic development strategy of the city, of the Redevelopment Agency and of the economic development department, West said. As the saying goes, businesses follow the rooftops. Our goal is to create an urban village flavor in downtown Long Beach, and at the end of the day we will have an urban concept that will be able to attract the office space that we are looking for, the retail establishments that we are looking for and be able to provide a place for people to live and be close to where they can commute to work.

Don Jergler can be reached at don.jergler@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1281.

Kristopher Hanson can be reached at kristopher.hanson@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1466.

[LB Life07]

Pine Avenue District Likely To Be Extended

By Kurt Helin
Editor

Crime is down, business owners are happy and it appears the temporary Pine Avenue Entertainment District will be around a while longer.

That was the assessment of city staff, which in the coming weeks will suggest the City Council extend the one-year pilot program for Pine Avenue for at least another year.

“We’re not seeing problems as a result of the conditions,” said Michael Killebrew, Long Beach’s finance director, who spoke at the meeting. “Things are going pretty well.”

When the entertainment district was put in place for a one-year trial (it runs through the end of March), business owners downtown said it was key to bring more police to downtown’s core.

Now the area has one sergeant and six officers working seven nights a week (although some nights adjustments are made). Previously, that many officers were present only on weekends, and only when the police had the overtime money available.

It seems to have worked, said police South Division Commander Torben Beith.

He said that violent crime on Pine Avenue and in the core of downtown was down 58% last year, from 25 violent crimes in 2005 to 10 in 2006.

Another aspect of the Entertainment District allows Pine Avenue bars and restaurants to stay open to 2 a.m. seven nights a week. This was needed, Pine business owners said, since they had to compete with the Pike for business and Pike locations can stay open until 2 a.m.

In the give-and-take with city staff at last week’s meeting, some business owners said they wanted to look into rules that would allow them to stay open past 2 a.m., but stop serving alcohol.

Other topics included growing the entertainment district one more block up to Fourth Street (it currently ends at Third Street) and ways to improve and coordinate the multiple valet services in the core of Pine Avenue.

One aspect of the entertainment district all sides seemed comfortable with was the revised noise restrictions. Those changes use a “middle of the street” rule — you should not be able to hear the noise coming from an establishment if you stand in the middle of the street facing it. That appears to be working, city officials said.

Another aspect of the plan was an oversight committee that would both make recommendations about businesses violating the ordinance and communicate with city staff. Several people at last week’s meetings asked for more communications with the city.

The City Council is expected to vote in March on making extending the time frame for the Pine Avenue Entertain-ment District.

[LAMetroGuy]

L.B. rolls out red carpet for Olympic panel
USOC visits Convention Center and Arena to evaluate 2016 bid
By Greg Mellen, Staff writer
Article Launched: 03/02/2007 10:40:57 PM PST


LONG BEACH - The city put on its game face Friday as Long Beach played host to officials from the United States Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission.
The USOC group concluded a two-day tour of Los Angeles, which is bidding to host the 2016 Summer Games, with visits to Carson, Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles.

The Southland is competing with Chicago to become the U.S. nominee to host the games. Officials will visit Chicago next and make a decision in April.

From there, the winning city will compete with other cities around the world for the right to host the games.

After touring the Home Depot Center in Carson, which would host archery, tennis, cycling/BMX and preliminary round soccer matches under the proposal, the 11-member commission toured the Long Beach Convention Center and Long Beach Arena. Long Beach plays a major role in the bid and would host 15 sports under current plans, including nine at the Convention Center complex.

Shortly before 10 a.m., USOC officials were greeted on Pine Avenue by a group of children in yellow T-shirts that read, "ready, set, gold."

Also on hand were city officials, including Mayor Bob Foster, 2nd District City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, City Manager Jerry Miller, and a group of teens dressed in international costumes who serenaded the delegation.
Foster spoke briefly, touting the city's diversity and how it had reinvented itself, adding that the city was "really energized" by the prospects of hosting some of the events.

The commission members, who were not made available to the public, then toured the facilities.

The 91,000-square-foot Exhibition Hall A would host wrestling and tae-kwon do. The 57,000-square-foot B hall is slated for table tennis, and the 76,000-square-foot C hall would be a practice facility.

Commissioners also toured the Long Beach Arena, where the Ice Dogs hockey team was conducting practice. The site, which officials say could seat 11,000 fans with extra bleachers on the floor level, would feature judo and rhythmic gymnastics.

The tour concluded with a presentation of the most ambitious project in the bid, which would be the construction of a $36 million to $40 million aquatics facility that would play host to water polo, swimming, diving and synchronized swimming.

The complex would be situated in the parking lot near where the city staged the 2004 U.S. Olympic swimming qualifying rounds and an aquatics festival in a temporary pool.

The proposed facility was designed by renowned pool architect David Jay Flood, who said it would employ cutting- edge environmentally friendly architecture and technology. In addition to removable sides that would allow seating for 20,000, the facility would have a retractable roof. As a bonus to the city, a health club and water park would be included.

In addition, the Los Angeles bid calls for team handball at the Walter Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach, rowing, canoeing and kayaking in Marine Stadium, beach volleyball at Alamitos Beach and sailing off of Shoreline Marina.

After its tour of the Convention Center, the commission boarded the Blue Line and traveled north to Los Angeles for the culmination of its tour.

[LAMetroGuy]

L.A. hopes charm is good for third time
The backers of the 2016 Olympic bid tout the city's Games-readiness to a visiting evaluation committee.
By Lisa Dillman, Times Staff Writer
March 3, 2007

The cooperative weather delivered, and so did retired soccer stars Mia Hamm and Alexi Lalas, talking up the merits of the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Even the traffic was mostly compliant on a sunny Friday morning for a U.S. Olympic Committee evaluation team winding its way through the freeways of Southern California, looking at venues in Carson, Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles.

Who knows what effect an overturned truck on the 710 south could have had on Los Angeles' Olympic bid for the 2016 Summer Games?

Overturning public perception, as well as that of International Olympic Committee members, was and remains the biggest obstacle for L.A. bid officials. The fact that Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before, most recently in 1984, came up repeatedly during the team's two-day visit.

Bob Ctvrtlik, the evaluation commission's chairman, said that the topic has been broached in "direct conversations" with about 100 IOC members. He also said the USOC will have its own polling done to assess public sentiment about the Games.

David Simon, president of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, spelled out exactly how he confronted the third-time issue when quizzed about it by evaluators in closed-door meetings.

"I said, 'Carl Lewis won gold medals in four consecutive Olympic Games in the long jump,' " Simon told The Times. "No one told Carl after the first two times he couldn't try for the third. They didn't give him the gold medal either.

"But he was given the chance to show he could be the best. That's all we're asking. Be open-minded enough to look at our plan and say whether it can be the best. I don't see how that can be disqualifying. When the IOC members say, 'Why give it three times?' I think the answer is: 'Are you willing to look at the plan before you reject it?' "

USOC chief executive Jim Scherr gave Los Angeles strong marks, saying he had "no doubt" it could play host to the Olympics. But a hint of the difficult call — deciding between U.S. bid city finalists Los Angeles or Chicago — came from Ctvrtlik, who is also an IOC member.

The USOC will make its choice on April 14.

"You can walk into them," Ctvrtlik said of Los Angeles' venues. "You can touch them. It's easy to envision how they'll perform. Is that something that will push them over the top? We'll just have to see. As we go into Chicago, we'll carefully study their plans as well. Potentially, there could be more risks."

Los Angeles could almost hold the Olympics now, with its venues nearly all in place. Chicago's plans are largely on paper and in computers and thereby harder to grasp.

Tim Leiweke of AEG touted Los Angeles' readiness.

"It shouldn't be about debt, having to spend billions of dollars," he said, adding that 2012 host London "is in a position where suddenly their budget has spiraled to a number that's become very controversial. That should not be what 2016 is about. That's a huge asset for Los Angeles."

Chicago has touted its lakefront and compact nature of the venues, which will be highlighted when the commission conducts a similar visit there next week. Here, it took about 35 minutes to get from Beverly Hills to the Home Depot Center and another 15 from Carson to downtown Long Beach. Long Beach's part in the bid effort is significant, as it includes venues for 11 sports, and could potentially provide another lasting legacy.

Architect Jay Flood showed plans for a permanent pool, a diving well, water park and health club, which would be built in the parking lot next to Long Beach Arena. The site was used for the successful U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 2004, but the pools were temporary ones.

The cost would range from $30 million to $40 million, said Phil Hester, Long Beach's director of Parks, Recreation and Marine. Hester said the development would be a public-private project. City officials and council members have been briefed, but the exact nature of the plan will depend on the April 14 vote.

"Either way, the city is intent on building a facility downtown (Long Beach)," he said.

[LB Life07]

Council Sets Guides For Queen Projects

By Harry Saltzgaver
Executive Editor

A set of “guiding principles” for development of property around the landmark Queen Mary likely will help rather than hinder efforts to bring the current leaseholder out of bankruptcy, according to the bankruptcy trustee.

Tuesday, the City Council approved a broad five-point statement about what would be acceptable across the bay from Downtown Long Beach. The recommendation, which came from Second District Councilman Suja Lowenthal, was designed to avoid a situation where someone purchases the long-term lease from Queen’s Seaport Development, Inc., in bankruptcy court with a plan that would not be acceptable to the city.

“It is in our interest to have an auction sooner rather than later,” said Amy Bodek, senior project manager for the city. “That way, we will forestall any further deterioration. These guidelines pave the way for that auction.”

QSDI filed for bankruptcy two years ago after a dispute with city officials about how rent credits were applied could not be resolved. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Vincent Zurzolo appointed Howard Ehrenberg trustee for QSDI last April.

QSDI was granted a 66-year lease in 1989 for the Queen Mary and the 52+ acres surrounding it as an incentive to develop the property. The RMS Foundation, a nonprofit formed by Joseph Prevratil in 1992 to reopen the Queen Mary, continues to hold the sublease to operate the ship itself.

Ehrenberg said this week that two potential bidders are preparing final offer sheets, and he hopes to take a proposal to the judge in the next month to six weeks. Real estate brokers soliciting other potential bidders have said there is strong interest for a possible overbid, as well, Ehrenberg added.

“The guidelines make it easier in some ways,” Ehrenberg said. “Now I can describe in advance to potential bidders what type of development would be acceptable there. Knowing in advance will clear a number of hurdles.”

Prevratil, who retired at the first of the year as president and CEO of both QSDI and the RMS Foundation but remains as chair of the board for both entities, said he supports Ehrenberg’s approach.

“I’m very much in favor of guiding principles as long as they don’t chill the ability of the trustee to attract qualified bidders,” Prevratil said. “It makes a lot of sense.”

The city owns the Queen Mary and the property around it, taking the deed back from the Port of Long Beach in 1992. While Prevratil and QSDI have suggested a number of development plans, the single major change has been construction of the Carnival Cruise Lines’ cruise ship terminal and dock connected to the former Spruce Goose dome.

The principles approved by the council call for an understanding of the importance of the Queen Mary to the city by establishing uses to support the ship’s ongoing restoration. Any project must meet Tidelands Trust guidelines and be consistent with land use and zoning regulations.

Council members said they wanted to make sure any development takes advantage of the waterfront and views of downtown, capitalizing on the location and the lease with Carnival Cruise Lines. The guidelines also encourage use of sustainable building practices wherever possible and call for the highest possible architectural quality.

“I want to be clear that adoption of these guidelines is not equal to engaging the public in a dialog process,” Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal said. “I want to assure the public that will take place.”

On the legal front, Judge Zurzolo turned away an attempt by creditors Bandero, LLC, to take control of the majority of QSDI stock. Bandero principal Lee Durst had sought approval of an agreement to purchase Paul Leevan’s stock in QSDI. Bandero already owns 24% of the stock.

But city officials had already turned back one effort, in 2004, by Bandero to exercise options and take over QSDI. The city has a say in who QSDI can transfer the lease to, and asked Bandero for financial and background material it wasn’t willing to provide.

Ehrenberg said the two potential bidders both have had talks with city officials. Judge Zurzolo has approved a settlement brokered by Ehrenberg between QSDI and the city that essentially will give the city all of the disputed rent credits back at sale of the lease, with the potential for up to $9 million paid, depending on the final bid.

[dragonsky]

Beautiful Los Angeles from the hills of Palos Verdes
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=450069

[LAMetroGuy]

^ nots ure why you posted that link in this thread???

[dragonsky]

why not?

[LAMetroGuy]

ummmm, has nothing to do with Long Beach.

[staraman]

from Palos Verdes are cool nonetheless... besides that's right next door... I mean it only takes a whole 10 minutes from DTLB to the peninsula. Whoa!

In any case, some folks group the South Bay all the way down to LB... some to Torrance. Who really cares? The whole area is pretty neat. Just to note also, you can get similar views from a high-rise condo on ocean blvd. :)

[ChrisLA]

from Palos Verdes are cool nonetheless... besides that's right next door... I mean it only takes a whole 10 minutes from DTLB to the peninsula. Whoa!:)

I know because often I choose between the Trader Joes in Palos Verdes, and the others in Belmont Shore, and Bixby Knolls. I like a change of scenery, so I go to all. For a long time I didn't even realize how close it was. Sure I can see the peninsula from downtown LB, but never realize it was only a short 10 mins away in the car. So now I love going over the bridge to shop every now and then.

Anyway I would sort of assoicate this area as part of Greater Long Beach.

[dragonsky]

That's hard.....

[mikedor]

Does anyone know if the Ocean West development (two grey concrete buildings at the west end of ocean by the WTC) has an interest list or web site? I can't seem to locate them anywhere. Must I go down to the sales office for more info?


thanks for any insight...

cheers,
Michael Kedor

[LAMetroGuy]

Does anyone know if the Ocean West development (two grey concrete buildings at the west end of ocean by the WTC) has an interest list or web site? I can't seem to locate them anywhere. Must I go down to the sales office for more info?


thanks for any insight...

cheers,
Michael Kedor

You mean West Ocean? try www.westoceanlb.com

http://www.westoceanlb.com/img/homeTowersHorz3.jpg

[mikedor]

That's the one... thank you!

[drisee]

i've visited this site a few times in the past but i never signed up to post any replies until now. there was a question about the edgewater project and from what i've heard from the city planners directly, the project was resold again so edgewater isn't going anywhere soon. hence why the sign just sits there in hopes of one day becoming a reality.

i too was really hoping for it to develop but now it looks like oceanaire might kick off sooner...the one planned for the other side of pine.

[LAMetroGuy]

drisee, thanks for posting! I also heard the same thing about Edgewater, but what I heard is that they were looking for a new partner but will keep with the same design etc. I was under the impression is that when they sought the partner, they were selling the project as is with all entitlements, etc. Hopefully it will break ground this year.

As for OceanAire, I heard that it will break ground in June of this year!

[drisee]

i remember hearing something similar to that as well. i also remember hearing that possibly the new partner was interested in keeping the same design but trying to squeeze more units into it so that he could squeeze more money out of it. another big concern was parking as the old people that live in the sky room were complaining about it and causing a large hurdle for the developer.

parking is an issue that i hear come up along from the old grumpy guard of long beach. very ridiculous in my eyes as the future doesn't call for more parking, it calls for better public transportation = less cars.

[LAMetroGuy]

Landmark office tower is sold
One World Trade Center in Long Beach fetches $149 million, a sign that the downtown area's real estate market is rebounding.
By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer
March 24, 2007


One World Trade Center, a landmark tower in downtown Long Beach, has been sold for $149 million in another sign that the long-suffering Long Beach office market is reviving.

The city's office market has been weak with high vacancies since it was overbuilt in the late 1980s during a commercial real estate boom. But the addition over the last few years of thousands of downtown residences and the improving shopping scene are helping attract more renters to the city's office towers.

Legacy Partners, a Foster City, Calif., real estate investment company, bought the 27-story tower from G REIT Inc., the principals announced Friday. G REIT, run by Santa Ana-based Triple Net Properties, acquired the property for $113.6 million in 2003.

The 573,000-square-foot building overlooking the bay along West Ocean Boulevard is 88% leased to a mix of public and private tenants including the U.S. Customs Service, the FBI and Morgan Stanley.

The transaction was part of a plan to sell all 27 of G REIT's buildings and take profit in a hot market, said Jeff Hanson, a senior executive of Triple Net, a commercial real estate investment firm.

"The appetite by private as well as institutional capital is unprecedented in Southern California, including Long Beach and the South Bay," he said.

Bidding for One World Trade Center was aggressive, said David Doupe of Jones Lang LaSalle, the brokerage that represented the seller. All three finalists were investment advisors for pension funds looking to expand their real estate holdings.

Legacy owns a building across the street and expects that Long Beach will continue to improve, said Scott Word, a senior vice president. The company plans to reach out to new residents in the area with improved shops and restaurants intended to draw night foot traffic to One World Trade Center.

The granite-and-glass tower opened to great fanfare in 1989, touted as the first of four buildings in what was to be the $550-million Greater Los Angeles World Trade Center in downtown Long Beach.
http://www.grjmodels.com/photos/office/la_trade_center.jpg
But the real estate market collapsed with a recession starting in the early 1990s. The other World Trade Center towers weren't built and the value of the first building, completed at a cost of $147 million, fell as tenants disappeared and the Long Beach market grew depressed.

But downtown Long Beach vacancy, as high as 26% in 1995, fell from 14.7% in 2005 to less than 12% last quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Office rents will grow as much as 8% this year and an additional 10% next year, Doupe predicted.

"I won't say we have totally turned the corner," he said, but "downtown Long Beach is starting to become a destination."

Long Beach has added about 2,500 apartments and condominiums downtown in the last three years, and 2,500 more should be completed in the next two years or so, said Pat West, the city's director of community development.

The city has also spent about $200 million in the last five years on such public improvements as parks, libraries and street work. "What you are seeing is a major commitment to redevelopment," West said

The city has also encouraged downtown retail development, especially along Pine Avenue.

[LAMetroGuy]

LONG BEACH - One man died as a three-alarm fire broke out in a 20-story residential high-rise on Ocean Boulevard Wednesday night.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site204/2007/0329/20070329_125114_mediadisplay.jpg

The blaze was first reported shortly after 9:30 p.m. on the 18th floor of the Galaxy Towers, 2999 E. Ocean Blvd.

A man, a tenant on the 18th floor, jumped to his death, according to Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Mike DuRee.

Bellflower resident Saida Caal was walking along the beach when the fire started.

"There was a person on the balcony screaming for help," she said. "The guy was screaming for help for like 10 or 15 minutes. The fire came at him and he was catching on fire, and he just jumped off the balcony."

"He was screaming `Help me, I don't want to die. Somebody please help me.' He was screaming that over and over again before he jumped off the balcony."

Gina Cifonelli, 20, of New Jersey, was walking to catch a bus at Orizaba Avenue and Ocean and saw the scene unfold.

"The whole floor was going - it was just ... the fire was just coming out like crazy, and I thought at first it was a piece of the building, but it was actually the man falling and he was on fire," she said.

The fire, believed to be confined to the unit in the east wing of the 18th floor where it broke out, was contained by about 10:25 p.m., DuRee said.
DuRee said the victim was alone at the time of the fire and it was unclear if anyone else lived in the unit.

About 100 firefighters responded to the scene. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, DuRee said.

There were no sprinklers in the building, just dry standpipes, which are big chutes through which firefighters can pump water.

"Had there been a sprinkler system in place, it may have changed things," DuRee said.

The building is made of steel and concrete. Firefighters ordered residents to shut their doors and windows to prevent the spread of smoke and flames.

At Paloma Avenue and Ocean, neighbors and bystanders stared at the building. Two young women were huddled on a bench, too distraught to speak to a reporter.

Toby Bay and Ratha Bun were jogging in the area when the fire happened.

"Everybody was screaming, `Stay low to the ground! Stay low to the ground!' I heard a loud bang and everybody was screaming," Bun said.

Bay said he saw a figure on a balcony.

"Next thing I knew I saw someone hanging from the rails and then he disappeared into the smoke," Bay said.

Ocean Boulevard was shut down in both directions, from Paloma in the east to Lindero Avenue in the west. Firefighters had no idea late Wednesday when the streets would re-open.

Bluff Park's Galaxy Towers, a 1966 high-rise, was designed by renowned local architects Hugh and Donald Gibbs. The firm also designed Long Beach City Hall and Main Library, the Terrace Theater, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Millikan High School.

The building - unusual because it was constructed without common walls between units - caused an uproar in residential Bluff Park at the time because of its height.

The city had rezoned the bluff area to encourage high-rise developments, but after it was built neighbors complained that it blocked their views, leading the city to reverse its zoning decision.

William Atherton, a Galaxy Towers resident, has been living there since 1988.

"I've never seen a fire like this since I've been here," he said.

Staff writers Samantha Gonzaga, Karen Robes, Hanna Chu and Jason Gewirtz contributed to this report.

http://206.173.89.51/uniquecaproperty_com/Listings/134469_0.jpg

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

thats sad. poor guy.

[LAMetroGuy]

Picture from the press telegram:

http://lang.presstelegram.com/socal/gallery2/news/032907_lb_fire/6.jpg

:(

[ChrisLA]

Sad, I only caught the end of the story here in San Diego last night. I know exactly where this building is since I rollerblade past it quite often.

[LB Life07]

Coastal Approves Hyatt’s
Grand Pavilion


Long Beach’s Hyatt Regency is one government approval and some internal decision-making away from adding a grand pavilion next to Rainbow Lagoon.

The Hyatt had used a temporary pavilion at the same site for several years to host weddings and meetings. That structure has been removed, and the hotel received state Coastal Commission approval on March 15 to build a permanent structure of 6,000 square feet there. Also approved were plans for another nearly 7,000 square feet of support area and landscape improvements.

All of the new facility is within the Hyatt’s current leasehold, and no park space would be lost. The city already has approved the project in concept, and plans are being reviewed now to issue final building permits, according to Greg Carpenter, Planning Bureau manager.

The Hyatt’s general manager, Steve Smith, said negotiations still need to be completed with contractors before the final green light is given to the project. Ground could be broken in two to three months, he said.

The Hyatt is one of the hotels targeted by a controversial Labor Peace Agreement passed this January and since challenged by a petition drive. The referendum push succeeded in forcing the City Council to suspend the ordinance, which would have required hotels on city-owned land to negotiate no-strike agreements with employees when the lease was changed or renewed.

Mike Conway, the city’s property services bureau manager, said that the ordinance would not have applied to this project even if it had remained in force. The addition was part of the original lease, he said.

—Harry Saltzgaver

[LB Life07]

I just wanted to mention all of the progress I've been seeing around the long beach area lately!! I went out for a drive the other day and noticed that they have began the painting phase on the West Ocean project, signs have been placed showing the new forthcoming projects on the properties that will house Ocean Aire and The Press Telegram lofts. Lennar's Pacifica has topped off and the window's are now being placed, 4th and Gateway still seems to be moving along slowly but there is still progress!! Last but not least, I noticed that at the corner of Anaheim and Long Beach Blvd. all the old stores that were sitting in that southwest corner have been torn down!! does anyone have any info on why this happened.......is there a new development that has been planned for this area??

[LB Life07]

Realty Bites: Tour showcases 9th District's potential
Don Jergler, Staff columnist
Article Launched: 04/09/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT


Val Lerch doesn't need to don a pair of Vulcan ears or whip out a phaser to convince you that space is the final frontier.

The 9th District city councilman on Friday packed a bus full of commercial real estate agents and gave them a tour around his spacious North Long Beach constituency, where he thinks the city will see its next big development boom in coming years.

"North Long Beach is ready to explode," Lerch said. "It is the new frontier for development in the city of Long Beach."

Lerch's self-stylized "dream tour" carried more than 50 Realtors, lenders, title sellers and industry folks throughout his district, making several stops to point out to them the opportunities that await.

Lerch came up with the idea for a tour a few months ago at the monthly networking breakfast for the Long Beach Commercial Real Estate Council.

He said he saw people looking for opportunities, and he realized that what North Long Beach's neglected corridors and its large brownfields need are opportunists.

The list for the bus tour filled up rapidly, forcing Lerch to place an additional 30 people from the council on a waiting list.

"We're going to end up having another tour pretty soon," Lerch said, adding that North Long Beach is ripe for developers. "Every bit of the 9th District is in redevelopment."
The tour included a corner lot at South Street and Downey Avenue, which Lerch believes may be vacated if the Target there closes after the nearby opening of a new Target at 68th Street and Cherry Avenue in Signal Hill.

Another stop on Lerch's tour was a 3-acre lot at Artesia Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue, which is being pieced together from smaller lots by the city's Redevelopment Agency.

Lerch also took the tour through some of North Long Beach's neighborhoods, which he said have received an undeserved bad rap.

"We've got good clean houses like everyone else, it's just that the major corridors have been neglected," Lerch said.

Other stops included the Robert Shaw climate controls facility at Victoria Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard, where the company plans to downsize and develop the back half of its factory into a 250,000-square-foot commercial project, and the Rancho Dominguez area, which the city is attempting to annex.

Lerch put Bixby Knolls on the tour, even though it's not his district. There he pointed out the sprawling development, where chains like Trader Joe's and Jamba Juice were at first hesitant to open during a time when redevelopment there was just beginning.

"Redevelopment helped those companies come in the Bixby Knolls area and now those spots have stores that are near the top in those companies' portfolios in terms of sales," Lerch said.

Redevelopment, successful community cleanup efforts and the large lots of land ready to be built upon struck a note with the packed bus, said Gregory Williams, with Blair Commercial Real Estate Inc.

"I was struck by a lot of things that redevelopment is trying to do," said Williams, who helped organize the trip. "The brokerage community and the real estate community are being asked to bring tenants to North Long Beach."

Williams said he and a construction company owner on the tour plan to retrace the route again this week and make plans for possible future projects.

"Everybody was definitely intrigued with the opportunities there," Williams said. "There's a lot of space."

The Long Beach Commercial Real Estate Council networking breakfast is held on the first Friday of each month. The group will have its annual luncheon on May 3 at the Long Beach Hilton downtown from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Don Jergler can be reached at

don.jergler@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1281.

[LB Life07]

Developers Will Face Impact Fee

By Harry Saltzgaver
Executive Editor

Developers will help pay for public safety facilities required because of their projects’ impact on the city, but those already “in the pipeline” will get off scot-free.

A public safety impact fee — actually two fees, with one for police and another for fire — has been discussed for nearly two years. Planning and Building Department staff members recommended setting the fee on March 20 after an impact analysis by the consultant Muni Financial. But council members asked that the city’s staff conduct some outreach in the development community before the ordinance is passed.

That effort culminated last Thursday at a public meeting attended by more than 50 people. The comment most repeated that day was that it was unfair to charge developers who already had purchased land and planned their projects an additional hefty impact fee.

Mayor Bob Foster prefaced Tuesday night’s debate by saying that he wanted the council to be fair to developers.

“I think the Nexus study has shown that the fees are fair,” Foster said. “But I think it is a matter of equity that things in the pipeline are not forced to pay. It’s a basic concept of fairness.”

Fourth District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell, who argued two weeks ago in favor of an immediate fee and applying it to all developments that didn’t have building permits, appeared to take Foster’s argument to heart. He made the motion to create the fees, but to exempt all developments that had submitted plan check applications.

That definition exempts 17 different projects representing more than 4,000 units. Fees from those projects had been expected to raise about $2.7 million.

Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich argued against that exemption, saying that developers had been aware of the proposed fee, and that the money was desperately needed for public safety facilities. She and Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga both said they expected developers to help in the campaign to pass Proposition H on the May 1 special election ballot, which would increase the oil production tax to help pay for police and fire enhancements.

“Instead of starting with $2.7 million, I guess we are going to move forward with $500,000 or so a year,” Gabelich said. “I guess we just keep looking for that pot of gold everyone seems to think is out there.”

According to city staff members, even with the additional fees the overall impact charge in Long Beach would be about 3% of market value — double the 1.5% in San Diego, but less than Anaheim’s 4%.

Single-family homes would require a payment of $1,199 ($703 for police and $496 for fire) and each unit in multi-family projects would be charged $915 ($537 for police and $378 for fire). Commercial projects would be charged 70.9¢ per square foot, office space would face an 86.3¢ fee and industrial property would be 35¢.

[LAMetroGuy]

Last but not least, I noticed that at the corner of Anaheim and Long Beach Blvd. all the old stores that were sitting in that southwest corner have been torn down!! does anyone have any info on why this happened.......is there a new development that has been planned for this area??


I think it is this:

Long Beach Mixed Use Lofts
1223 Long Beach Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90813

Approx. 39000 sq. ft. lot on Long Beach Blvd. in Downtown Long Beach. Current world class architectural plans include 58 units consisting of a loft tower, live/work lofts on Long Beach Blvd., and residential townhomes on 12th Street. Bonus 3000 sq. ft. of retail on Long Beach Blvd. with LOI's from strong retail brands already in place. Unit sq. footages range from 850-2800. The main tower is designed to be six story type 5 construction. Property is currently fully entitled and approved with the City of Long Beach. Property allows for a high rise with 150 ft. height limit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/image3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/image2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/image1.jpg


High Rise Potential:
http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/E/0/7/E0780757-DB1C-487A-A674-CBE0FD20728D.pdf

[LAMetroGuy]

I just wanted to mention all of the progress I've been seeing around the long beach area lately!! I went out for a drive the other day and noticed that they have began the painting phase on the West Ocean project, signs have been placed showing the new forthcoming projects on the properties that will house Ocean Aire and The Press Telegram lofts. Lennar's Pacifica has topped off and the window's are now being placed, 4th and Gateway still seems to be moving along slowly but there is still progress!!

Hey LB Life, thanks for the update! I did see the OceanAire homes sign:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/IMAGE_212.jpg

Also, I walked past the 133 Promenade and Pacifica LB promenade projects and took these pics with my phone:

Looking North on 1st and Promenade (Pacifica on the right and 133 Promenade on the Left (two buildings)):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/IMAGE_217.jpg

Same angle as above but a little closer, Pacifica on the right and 133 Promenade on the Left
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/IMAGE_215.jpg

Looking South down the Promenade towards 1st (you can see the Renaissance hotel in the background to the right):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/IMAGE_216.jpg

Looking West on 1st and Promenade (133 Promenade to the right):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/IMAGE_218.jpg

Also, walked passed the Renaissance hotel and the side that is fronting the Promenade will have Long Beach's largest Starbucks:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/IMAGE_219.jpg

[LB Life07]

LA Metro Guy....thanks for the renders of 1223 long beach blvd. As always, if anyone can find it, it appears your that person!! So which is going to be the final plan.....is it going to be the renders you posted or are they going to go with the 13 story tower on the link that you posted?? I feel that the 13 story tower would be much better for that area and needed, so it can open up high rise building in that area and expand the potential for downtown. Either way both plans are great for the area and I do like the designs on both. :tup:

[staraman]

What happened to all the posted pics of Promenade Walk / Lennar? They were showing up yesterday.

[LB Life07]

Staraman there must be something wrong on your computer, I can see all the pics fine!!

[citywatch]

Also, I walked past the 133 Promenade and Pacifica LB promenade projects and took these pics with my phone:
That's the first photo update of DTLB I've seen here in a long time. Thanks for the snapshots, & keep em coming. I know that ever since chrisla got a nighttime job his photo essays have been a lot less frequent at SSP, or SSC too, so we need all the additional updates we can get.

[ChrisLA]

[/b]
That's the first photo update of DTLB I've seen here in a long time. Thanks for the snapshots, & keep em coming. I know that ever since chrisla got a nighttime job his photo essays have been a lot less frequent at SSP, or SSC too, so we need all the additional updates we can get.

Yes working graveyard is rough, sorry about that guys.


Anyway I did get a chance to take some photos of the promenade recently, but just haven't had time to post them. Perhaps I'll try to get them up this evening.

BTW Did you guys realize Pinkberry Yogurt is now open? I was curious since there has been so much fanfare about this joint, especially among the elite on the west side and the celebrities. I was looking at their website the other night at work and noticed they had the Long Beach location listed and with the phone number. So this afternoon I went by and to my surprise they have been open for three weeks. I don't even recal any news about the opening. Anyway the interior is very inviting and cool, and makes you want to sit down and enjoy your snack. It's a bit pricey as I ordered a medium green tea flavor with three toppings at $5.95. It was my first time trying it, and I have to say I'll be back for more, perhaps without the toppings. Anyway its on Broadway Ave just east of Pine Avenue next to the 7-11 and Broadway Pizza.

[LB Life07]

ChrisLA, That's great news about the pinkberry....I wasn't even aware that it had opened yet and I was just in that area of downtown today!! I know that they're gonna be opening one in the belmont shore area on 2nd street sometime soon. I think I'll probably go and try out the one downtown tomorrow. I've always heard a lot of talk about there yogurt, but never had the chance to actually try it myself.

[ChrisLA]

^
I didn't realize they were also opening another in Belmont Shore as well. I hope you like it. Just so you know there are only two flavors, plain and green tea. From what I read the owner wanted a simple menu, and so far the concept seems to be working. I highly suggest the green tea (that is if you already like green tea). Although its cost more for the three toppings, I really like the fact they have fresh fruit. They also have the candy toppings as well.

[ChrisLA]

These photos are pretty much similar to the ones above but I figure I might as well share them since I already took them.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9158/downtownlongbeachmarch1dy6.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7654/downtownlongbeachmarch1bk9.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/438/downtownlongbeachmarch1tp2.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/2567/downtownlongbeachmarch1nv8.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/8991/downtownlongbeachmarch1uz5.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9144/downtownlongbeachmarch1cn3.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9089/downtownlongbeachmarch1ly7.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/3223/downtownlongbeachmarch1me2.jpg

[LB Life07]

ChrisLA, I got a chance to check out the Pinkberry today!! I headed over there around noon and ordered a green tea for myself and an original for my son! I actually liked the original better. I never have taken a big interest in green tea period, but none the less I still gave it a shot. I do like the real fruit toppings, I think it's much better than a syrup based fruit topping, I also liked the setup of the store and it's location. Once the promenade is complete this area should be crawling with heavy foot traffic. I also took note of the once empty store fronts that are now becoming occupied at a much faster pace. Especially the ones toward the back end of pine that just a year ago were having a lot of trouble filling vacancies!! I think that with all the soon to come projects in this area of town, filling vacancies will be no problem!! Esppecially once work starts on the Press Telegram Lofts!!

[ChrisLA]

ChrisLA, I got a chance to check out the Pinkberry today!! I headed over there around noon and ordered a green tea for myself and an original for my son! I actually liked the original better. I never have taken a big interest in green tea period, but none the less I still gave it a shot. I do like the real fruit toppings, I think it's much better than a syrup based fruit topping, I also liked the setup of the store and it's location. Once the promenade is complete this area should be crawling with heavy foot traffic. I also took note of the once empty store fronts that are now becoming occupied at a much faster pace. Especially the ones toward the back end of pine that just a year ago were having a lot of trouble filling vacancies!! I think that with all the soon to come projects in this area of town, filling vacancies will be no problem!! Esppecially once work starts on the Press Telegram Lofts!!

I'm glad you made it over there, I was tempted to stop by again this afternoon but I was short on time today. As I passed by I was observing how nice that corridor is looking. I'm looking forward to see how it turns out once all of the new development is completed.

[LAMetroGuy]

Council Approves Twin Tower 22-Story 6th/Pine Lofts Development, Invites Further Density & Development Downtown

(April 18, 2007) -- In an action Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal called precedent-setting -- and likely to invite increased density and development northward along downtown Pine Ave. -- the City Council has approved the twin 22-story >6th/Pine lofts development.
Screen save from City Council hearing webcast: View from Pine Ave. as shown in presentation by developer's architect. To see the development as shown on the developer's web site, click here.

Approval of the development (dubbed the "Press-Telegram" project for its location at the paper's former site) came in April 17 Council votes which overruled appeals by representatives of the Wilmore City Heritage, West End Community Ass'n and Wilsonian Homeowner Ass'n and sustained Planning Commission approval (which included 120+ conditions) (6-2 vote, Vice Mayor Lowenthal and Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal voting against substitute motion by Councilwoman Reyes Uranga that didn't include additional conditions to which the developer and Vice Mayor Lowenthal had agreed].

The Council also adopted findings of "overriding considerations" that allowed the project to proceed despite findings of significant [negative] environmental impacts [in an Environmental Impact Report] that could not be mitigated below significance...the latter on an 8-0 vote. The Council also voted 8-0 to expand downtown's PD-30 development area to now stretch up to 6th/Pine.

The appellants in the hearing supported the development but objected to letting it proceed with less than the number of parking spaces required under LB ordinances.

The developer, represented by a lawyer with the firm of Keesal, Young & Logan, said the project is sufficient to meet parking peak demand and cited (among other things) a study done by a firm retained by the developer which concluded that the project isn't underparked. The developer, ("Octoberfive Development, LLC") lists Jim Brophy, Ryan Heiman, and John Sevilla as its firm's partners.

In hearing testimony, the development was supported by Downtown LB Associates (at the podium by John Morris), CSULB (to which the developer offered sixty residential units at the developer's cost, deed restricted to CSULB faculty and staff) and the Arts Council for LB and LB Heritage [to which the developer will give office space in what used to be the ground floor of the PT at 601 Pine.]

During Council discussion, Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal advocated adopting a sweeping policy of encouraging density in downtown LB with less than currently required parking in order to encourage the use of public transportation. Councilwoman Lowenthal said she saw no inconsistency between her position on this for new developments and her recent publicized efforts [reported by LBReport.com] to find new parking sources for residents whose neighborhood parking [she said] was robbed by "crackerbox" apartments allowed in the 1980s.

LBReport.com will be posting Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal's remarks separately at length and will link to them here. They transcend the project itself in their potential impacts both downtown and citywide.]

Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal moved to approve the project with added conditions (beyond the roughly 120 forwarded by the Planning Commission) on parking and deed restrictions on units to be sold to CSULB employees to which the developer had agreed with Vice Mayor Lowenthal [regarding parking (no additional spaces but referral of future parking issues to City Hall's Dir. of Planning & Building) and deed restrictions on CSULB-designated units] but Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga made a substitute motion to approve the project as approved by the Planning Commission without the additional conditions.

Extended discussion followed...and Councilwoman Reyes Uranga eventually "called for the question" [a non-debatable motion to force a vote...that Mayor Foster enforced] which carried 6-2.

Councilwoman Reyes Uranga's substitute motion (approve without additional conditions) carried 6-2 [Bonnie & Suja Lowenthal dissenting]. Two subsequent votes to adopt resolutions of "overriding considerations" and amend downtown's PD-30 development area to extend to the 6th/Pine area, carried 8-0.

[LB Life07]

Long Beach makes top ten list for...
Downtown Turnaround

Urban Land Institute includes Long Beach in top 10 `Turnaround Downtowns.'
By Kristopher Hanson, Staff writer
Article Launched: 04/20/2007 10:32:18 PM PDT


Downtown's transformation from economic troubles to the boom era ot today caught the eye of a non-profit think tank in Washington, D.C. (Press-Telegram photo)LONG BEACH - The city's downtown, a former haven for tattoo parlors, seedy bars and run-down motels, received a bit of redemption Friday when it was named one of America's most improved urban cores.
The non-profit Urban Land Institute, a land-use think tank based in Washington D.C., included Long Beach in a list of the nation's top 10 "Turnaround Downtowns."

The list, released Friday, is based on economic indicators such as retail and office space, housing availability, public transportation and cultural, recreational and entertainment options.

Authors praised the city for its recovery from economic recession and suburban flight in the 1980s and '90s.

"The end of the Cold War resulted in a double whammy for Long Beach, dependent on two economic mainstays - the city's aerospace industry downsized significantly, and then the Navy pulled anchor," authors noted. "Downtown gave way to cheap drinking haunts and empty storefronts."

The city rebounded and redefined itself by pouring hundreds of millions into redevelopment, the study says.

"Residential, entertainment and commercial sectors have taken off since the turn of the millennium," it reads.

The non-profit Downtown Long Beach Association praised the study, but said more works remain. The group has been involved in helping plan several new and nearly completed mixed-use projects, including development on the Promenade and East Village Arts District downtown.
"We recognize there is still much to accomplish and look forward to achieving even greater success," said Jane Netherton, DBLA's Board of Directors.

In recent years, nearly 6,000 residential units have been planned, are under construction or were recently completed, including several high-rise towers on Ocean Boulevard.

By 2010, downtown's residential population is expected to increase by 8,000 people, shifting the area's demographics and assisting in overall job recruitment efforts, said Kraig Kojian, DLBA president.

The other top ten were Brooklyn, New York; Washington D.C.; Pasadena; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Memphis, Tenn.; Philadelphia; Des Moines, Iowa; Fargo, N.D., and Charleston, S.C.

The report was welcome news for Mayor Bob Foster.

"Our downtown is dynamic, energized and the heart of our revitalized urban core," Foster said in a statement.

The article, available in the organization's ULX magazine, said revitalization is the result of careful planning and investment.

"After decades of declines, downtowns are back - but not by accident," it says. "Downtown revivals tend to occur when the public and private sectors carry out a coherent vision that reflects the surrounding community's aspirations and individual character."

[ozone]

Wow Long Beach is really moving up! Those pics are cool. I think it's been like 10 years since I've been there. I need to check it out again when I'm down south. The shots of the older buildings looks a little like Oakland and could use street trees IMO.

[LAMetroGuy]

Promenade Project Plan Moves Forward





By Kurt Helin
Editor

Dramatic changes are reshaping the Promenade downtown — condominium buildings, retail shops and outdoor dining will soon line the pedestrian walkway.

City officials want to make sure there also is public art, seating, plenty of trees and landscaping, and maybe some fountains.

The goal is to create a true urban, public walkway, and last week the Redevelopment Agency board approved the plan. The Planning Commission was prepared to do so as well, but its meeting was disbanded due to a fire in City Hall (see page 1).

The Planning Commission will take up the Promenade again at its next meeting, said Zoning Officer Greg Carpenter. Commissioners appeared ready to approve the plan.

“It’s something we’ve all been looking at for years but now there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Pat West, Community Development director for the city.

Plans start with the Starbucks set to open on the Promenade near Ocean Boulevard, part of a remodel of the Renaissance Hotel lobby. It continues up to a planned green space in front of the historic mural at the end of the Promenade, just north of Third Street.

Each block will have a plaza or pavilion area in the middle of the block with seats and landscaping. There also will be a new “transit mall” area along First Street and the Promenade, to be built by Long Beach Transit starting in a couple of months.

Much of the money to do this building will come from the developers putting up the condominium projects. Put into the development deals were both “one percent for art” provisions as well as deals to do work on the Promenade in front of their buildings.

An example is the work of Lennar Development, which is not only building one of the condominium developments but also will be redoing the amphitheater at First Street and the Promenade. Lennar has filled in the amphitheater and used it as a staging area for its construction (keeping the parking lot open). When done, they will build the multi-use facility designed by the city.

The new-look amphitheater will have an elevated stage but the rest of the bowl will have a more gentle slope than was there before. The concrete seats will be replaced by a grass bowl, allowing more traditional-style park uses such as picnics. The existing fountains will be removed and a water-wall feature will takes its place.

The amphitheater still will host concerts and movie showings, city officials said, but it also will be a place people can go hang out any time.

With this master plan, the city wants to replicate that model up and down the Promenade, essentially getting an enlivened walkway at no cost to the city budget.

It is expected to take two to three years to complete the Promenade project.

[LAMetroGuy]

I thought I would put up a photo update on downtown LB. These pictures were taken on Saturday

West Ocean, the taller tower will be Long Beach's tallest residential tower and second tallest tower in Long Beach:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03396Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03395Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03394Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03393Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03392Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03391Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03390Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03389Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03388Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03387Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03386Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03385Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03384Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03383Medium.jpg

Site for OceanAire Homes by Lennar:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03380Medium.jpg

New restaruant for the Pike, Famous Daves BBQ:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03379Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03378Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03377Medium.jpg

Site of the Hotel Esterel, ground should be breaking sometime in lat April or early May:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03410Medium.jpg

Site of the Lyon Promenade project, ground broken but stalled:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03416Medium.jpg

Promenade projects (Lennar's Pacifica and Olson's Promenade Walk):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03412Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03411Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03409Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03406Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03405Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03404Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03419Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03403Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03402Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03401Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03400Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03399Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03418Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03417Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03415Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03414Medium.jpg

4th and Long Beach mixed use development... :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03427Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03425Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03426Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03424Medium.jpg

Site of the Art Exchange site:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03422Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03423Medium.jpg

Site of the MTA Block:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03421Medium.jpg

Looking West on Broadway:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03420Medium.jpg


New eateries along Broadway (promenade adjacent)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03408Medium.jpg

Ohhhh, Pinkberry!!! :tup:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03407Medium.jpg

Site of Edgewater on Ocean, nothing as usual... :hell:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03398Medium.jpg

New restaurant called "Jar at Long Beach" same owner from the Jar in West Hollywood, this restaurant is fronting Ocean Blvd and has a fire pit, very hot!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03397Medium.jpg

Finish the tour with skyline pictures taken from the Queen Mary on Sunday:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03433Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03432Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/DSC03431Medium.jpg

[solongfullerton]

Every time I read this thread I miss Long Beach. Not that I'm too far away, I just have no reason to get down there anymore. I think the amount of development that is taking place there is amazing and the styles of the new structures that are going up are very cool as well. Proportionately(sp?), I think the LBC is really putting LA to shame. Now, if only they could make the blue line faster between DTLB and DTLA.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Great update! Long Beach is looking great. once these other projects break ground, everyone will take notice. i think Long Beach has the potential to be similar to Downtown San Diego.

[citywatch]

Thanks for the photos, chrisla & LAMG. Now that the LB thread is a sticky, I hope you & others will make sure to keep it as updated as possible. I know the last time I saw any pics of the West ocean condo proj, it still was a new construction site, perhaps not even above the first few floors.

[InsExchLoft_dweller]

Found this in the Gazette today... Does anyone know if the Hotel at the Promenade is really going happen? If is doesn't then there will be a huge hole in the promenade walk... which is sad.

Promenade Project Plan Moves Forward

By Kurt Helin
Editor

Dramatic changes are reshaping the Promenade downtown — condominium buildings, retail shops and outdoor dining will soon line the pedestrian walkway.

City officials want to make sure there also is public art, seating, plenty of trees and landscaping, and maybe some fountains.

The goal is to create a true urban, public walkway, and last week the Redevelopment Agency board approved the plan. The Planning Commission was prepared to do so as well, but its meeting was disbanded due to a fire in City Hall (see page 1).

The Planning Commission will take up the Promenade again at its next meeting, said Zoning Officer Greg Carpenter. Commissioners appeared ready to approve the plan.

“It’s something we’ve all been looking at for years but now there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Pat West, Community Development director for the city.

Plans start with the Starbucks set to open on the Promenade near Ocean Boulevard, part of a remodel of the Renaissance Hotel lobby. It continues up to a planned green space in front of the historic mural at the end of the Promenade, just north of Third Street.

Each block will have a plaza or pavilion area in the middle of the block with seats and landscaping. There also will be a new “transit mall” area along First Street and the Promenade, to be built by Long Beach Transit starting in a couple of months.

Much of the money to do this building will come from the developers putting up the condominium projects. Put into the development deals were both “one percent for art” provisions as well as deals to do work on the Promenade in front of their buildings.

An example is the work of Lennar Development, which is not only building one of the condominium developments but also will be redoing the amphitheater at First Street and the Promenade. Lennar has filled in the amphitheater and used it as a staging area for its construction (keeping the parking lot open). When done, they will build the multi-use facility designed by the city.

The new-look amphitheater will have an elevated stage but the rest of the bowl will have a more gentle slope than was there before. The concrete seats will be replaced by a grass bowl, allowing more traditional-style park uses such as picnics. The existing fountains will be removed and a water-wall feature will takes its place.

The amphitheater still will host concerts and movie showings, city officials said, but it also will be a place people can go hang out any time.

With this master plan, the city wants to replicate that model up and down the Promenade, essentially getting an enlivened walkway at no cost to the city budget.

It is expected to take two to three years to complete the Promenade project.

[LAMetroGuy]

Yeah, I already posted the article you just posted... if you look at the end of page 26.

Yes, the hotel is going to happen, its in Plan Check... which means the developer has paid a large amount of cash that they can't get back if they backout. I believe that the hotel Esterel will break ground in May.

[LAMetroGuy]

Lyon Realty Alters West Gateway Design

By Thyda Duong
Staff Writer

Lyon Realty Advisors unveiled design changes to its West Gateway project during a study session last week. The session, held by the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency Board, offered board members and the public a glimpse of the new design elements.

The main changes to the project, which is bordered by West 3rd Street, Broadway, Magnolia Avenue and Chestnut Avenue, include increasing the number of units from 265 to 291 and shifting the heart of the retail zone from Chestnut Avenue to Broadway.

The change was implemented after identifying Broadway as a main entranceway into the city, explained Eric Donnelly, Lyon’s vice president of construction. He also noted that retail establishments would be complementary to the living space, and not detrimental.

Construction on the development, which will include 15,000 square feet of retail, is scheduled to being in January 2008. It is expected to be complete by summer 2009.

Lyon’s other project at The Promenade, however, will soon show physical signs of progress. Grading and shoring at the site will begin in May, with structures expected to go up June 1, according to Peter Zak, Lyon’s senior director of development.

The project calls for 104 rental units and 13,500 square feet of retail. It is scheduled for completion in late summer or fall 2008.

RDA Board Approves Promenade Open Space Master Plan
The Redevelopment Agency Board approved the Promenade Open Space Master Plan during its meeting on April 16.

Designed by Jon David Cicchetti Landscape Artists, the document presents guidelines for public art, seating, outdoor dining, lighting, landscaping and water features for new construction projects on the three-block area between Ocean Boulevard and 3rd Street.

In addition, the master plan will incorporate the work of selected artists for each of the blocks, as well as input from the Arts Council for Long Beach.

The Long Beach Planning Commission will discuss approving the plan during its May 3 meeting.

City staff expect to break ground on the middle block, from 1st Street to Broadway, during the summer, and complete improvements by the end of the year.

[InsExchLoft_dweller]

Thanks LA Metro Guy. I really hope they break ground in May, but I would have thought that I would have heard, since my buildings parking lot sits on top of the hotel grounds...

Anyway, let's keep our fingers crossed. I heard that if the developer decides to redesign and the project does not break ground soon, then it's going to be a bust.

All these pictures are great and I plan to take some 360 pictures of all the promenade development from the top of my building this weekend.

Thanks everyone!

[MooneyFWD]

Any chance of getting that full Long Beach city view rendering updated and posted up again? :slob: (the one with the numbered buildings and key below)

With all these updates and small changes it would be cool to see that whole city view with all of the projects both finished and planned.

You guys are awesome at keeping us updated. Phase 3 - 133 Promenade Walk set to close escrow 6/22 :tup:

[LB Life07]

Airport plan OK'd for 89,995 sq. ft.
Council: Reyes Uranga, O'Donnell, Gabelich voice objections; residents sought lesser or no expansion.
By Mira Jang, Staff writer
Article Launched: 04/24/2007 10:49:12 PM PDT

Airport plan OK'd' LONG BEACH - After nearly two hours of discussion that elicited tears and passionate testimony, the City Council on Tuesday voted 5-3 to increase the airport terminal to 89,995 square feet against the wishes of several residents who asked for the smallest expansion or none at all.

The council, with members Patrick O'Donnell, Rae Gabelich and Tonia Reyes Uranga objecting, approved city staff's recommendation of what is considered a compromise version of a proposal to expand the terminal area to 97,545 square feet. Another option was increasing the terminal to

Approximately 170 people filled the Long Beach City Council chambers Tuesday as the council heard arguments on the proposed airport expansion in Long Beach. Approximately 30 "Say No to Airport Expansion" signs were seen around the attendees. (Steven Georges/Press-Telegram)118,305 square feet. Appellants requested a maximum of 67,495 square feet. The terminal now is 56,320 square feet.
The council's OK moves forward a bitterly contested proposal and sets in motion final design and space allocation details, along with financing plans. The plan is expected to be completed in about 20 months and would return to the council for final approval. If approved, a three-month bidding period will follow for a construction company, which would complete the project around April 2011.

The Planning Commission and the Cultural Heritage Commission would also vote on the final plans.

In an odd move, Councilman Gary DeLong motioned, and Councilman Val Lerch seconded, approving the 97,545-square-foot proposal. But the motion failed, with all eight council members, including DeLong and Lerch, rejecting it.

The council then voted on Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal's motion to approve the 89,995-square-foot plan, which the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce supports.

Before the other two motions, O'Donnell had motioned to approve the smallest of the alternatives, which is 79,000 square feet. Some residents voiced support for the plan, calling it the least offensive but still not ideal. However, the council did not voted on the motion because it had already passed the 89,995-square-foot plan, a scaled-back version made possible from cuts in the security screening area, the operations office, conference and office rooms and ticketing areas.

The approved version would increase airplane parking spaces to 12 from 10 and the number of gates to 11 from eight.

The Long Beach Unified School District and the Long Beach PTA have filed lawsuits challenging the Environmental Impact Report. The school district has argued that the city should provide noise soundproofing for a number of campuses if proposed terminal improvements are built.

Felton Williams, vice president of the Long Beach Unified School District's Board of Education, said the lawsuit was necessary to protect students' interests and called for more in-depth environmental studies.

"We have never opposed modernizing the airport, and we still don't," he said. "But we still have a problem with the EIR."

In a packed council chamber, amid the chatter of small children and cries of babies, several people held orange and black signs that read, "Say No to Airport Expansion."

Sheryl Fafard, who brought her three sons, ages 7, 10, and 12, who all held signs, asked the council to look out for residents' interests. She said she moved to Long Beach six years ago, thinking it would be a safe place to raise her children. But with more planes in the air above her home, she and her family, she said, must constantly battle the noise. Three years ago, she developed asthma.

"If I could afford to move, I would," she said.

Tracy Chambers attended the meeting with her husband and 10-month-old daughter to urge the council to consider the damage a terminal expansion could have on residents' quality of life and health, especially her daughter's.

"There's soot raining down on our house. Our oranges are covered in black," Chambers said as she tried to hold back tears. "It's horrible."

Chambers, who moved here five years ago, said her cat got asthma after six months.

In response to noise and pollution concerns, the council on Tuesday unanimously passed two sets of laws called a green airport program and a neighborhood protection program. The former includes three rules related to reducing aircraft-related pollution and air quality monitoring.

The second includes nine points, including an annual report to monitor environmental impacts, working with the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce noise, and ensuring adequate insurance coverage and other funds to defend the city in any lawsuits that challenge the city's airport noise law.

City staff will return to the council within 90 days with a plan on how to implement the programs.

Mira Jang can be reached at mira.jang@presstelegram.com or at (562) 499-1278.

[LAMetroGuy]

Thanks LA Metro Guy. I really hope they break ground in May, but I would have thought that I would have heard, since my buildings parking lot sits on top of the hotel grounds...

Anyway, let's keep our fingers crossed. I heard that if the developer decides to redesign and the project does not break ground soon, then it's going to be a bust.

All these pictures are great and I plan to take some 360 pictures of all the promenade development from the top of my building this weekend.

Thanks everyone!

Looking forward to the 360 pictures!!! Also, I noticed that the Lyon promenade lot has been completely torn up! :banana:

[LAMetroGuy]

Update to Broadway and Main:

Looks like they removed the "fin" attached to each of the towers and instead added a third tower:

http://www.molaskypacific.com/images/highres/b-m.jpg

http://www.molaskypacific.com/images/highres/b-m01.jpg

Here is the website from the developer, although they don't have the right description as it references only one 20 story tower and they show two new renderings with three TALL towers.

http://www.molaskypacific.com/highres/recentprojects/b-m.html

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Very Nice! break ground already.

[dragonsky]

Firm offers $41 million to buy Queen Mary lease
By Valerie Reitman, Times Staff Writer
April 27, 2007

A Santa Monica shopping center developer has bid $41 million to purchase the lease for the Queen Mary and surrounding grounds in Long Beach, with plans to refurbish the ship and develop the landing as a retail-entertainment complex.

O&S Holdings' is the first bid received for taking over the property operated by Queen's Seaport Development Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in March 2005. Court-appointed bankruptcy trustee Howard Ehrenberg said several other developers have been considering the property and could submit bids before an offer is selected this summer.

But those developers would have to bid at least $2.5 million more than O&S and meet several other criteria to be selected. O&S bid the minimum $41 million, the amount necessary to pay off Queen's Seaport's lenders and other creditors.

Ehrenberg said the 66-year lease, which has 58 years remaining on it, has been conservatively appraised at $56 million.

Rachel Forman, O&S Holdings' vice president of corporate marketing, said preliminary plans for the area include refurbishing and developing a "retail and entertainment, tourist-driven development."

The adjacent property now includes a welcoming terminal for Carnival Cruise Lines and a number of smaller businesses and shops. Ehrenberg said the parking area could be developed to add more entertainment, dining, specialty retail, hotel and meeting space. "It's envisioned as a capstone for the city of Long Beach, to tie the waterfront" to the rest of the city, Ehrenberg said.

O&S has developed 80 other shopping centers and community centers around the U.S.

[LB Life07]

Update to Broadway and Main:

Looks like they removed the "fin" attached to each of the towers and instead added a third tower:

http://www.molaskypacific.com/images/highres/b-m.jpg

http://www.molaskypacific.com/images/highres/b-m01.jpg

Here is the website from the developer, although they don't have the right description as it references only one 20 story tower and they show two new renderings with three TALL towers.

http://www.molaskypacific.com/highres/recentprojects/b-m.html

I like the new renders due to the fact that the third tower adds a denser look to the skyline but the original two towers look shorter in this render. I kind of liked the height that the towers appeared to have in the original render. I think that this is something that the skyline could use since most of our buildings don't seem to go past the 350' mark. LA Metro Guy, do you know what the proposed height of these buildings are going to be?

[Guatemalanking]

Long Beach is looking better now, I havent been down there in some months this is a good start for more to come.

[ChrisLA]

Well it looks like Pinkberry is a hit thus far. I drove by there late afternoon and there was a line to the door.

[LB Life07]

I was in the Belmont Shore area the other day on 2nd street and noticed that the Pinkberrys over that way is about to open, the sign is already up and the doors are already decorated.

[LAMetroGuy]

New image of the City Hall East (Grand Prix Place) adaptive re-use proposed design:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/City%20Hall%20East/GPP.jpg

[InsExchLoft_dweller]

Not quite 360... but views from the top of the Insurance Exchange. Enjoy :cheers:

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2414.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2417.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2416.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2419.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2420.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2422.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2421.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2425.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2419.jpg

[ChrisLA]

Its that your view?

What a view that is I'm so jealous, thanks for sharing.

[regboi21]

Does anybody have any photos of the project that happening at long beach blvd and anaheim its called the Long Beach Mixed Use Lofts
1223 Long Beach Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90813

[drisee]

Thanks LA Metro Guy. I really hope they break ground in May, but I would have thought that I would have heard, since my buildings parking lot sits on top of the hotel grounds...

Anyway, let's keep our fingers crossed. I heard that if the developer decides to redesign and the project does not break ground soon, then it's going to be a bust.

All these pictures are great and I plan to take some 360 pictures of all the promenade development from the top of my building this weekend.

Thanks everyone!

If the other people that consistently contribute to this page are of the mindset that we should improve downtown long beach then we should all hope this hotel esterel is a bust. Not sure how closely you've inspected the plans but it's nothing to get excited about.

what once used to be a planned 11 or 12 story building is now a cheaply designed 4 story building. Just small enough to keep from having to use steel versus wood, which is cheaper of course. this isn't the type of building we need in the heart of downtown. we need something taller and more visually appealing as opposed to another stucco nightmare with fake art deco stylings.

i realize that everyone is excited about the developments in general but take a closer look at the overall plan and it's nothing to get excited about. it's totally disconnnected from pine and has a look that doesn't integrate into anything else in regards to the hardscape and landscape. we should all hope for something better.

would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this as i don't see many of these developments as good for the long term vision, they are all watered down versions of what we should be developing. don't believe the hype.

[drisee]

Firm offers $41 million to buy Queen Mary lease
By Valerie Reitman, Times Staff Writer
April 27, 2007

A Santa Monica shopping center developer has bid $41 million to purchase the lease for the Queen Mary and surrounding grounds in Long Beach, with plans to refurbish the ship and develop the landing as a retail-entertainment complex.

O&S Holdings' is the first bid received for taking over the property operated by Queen's Seaport Development Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in March 2005. Court-appointed bankruptcy trustee Howard Ehrenberg said several other developers have been considering the property and could submit bids before an offer is selected this summer.

But those developers would have to bid at least $2.5 million more than O&S and meet several other criteria to be selected. O&S bid the minimum $41 million, the amount necessary to pay off Queen's Seaport's lenders and other creditors.

Ehrenberg said the 66-year lease, which has 58 years remaining on it, has been conservatively appraised at $56 million.

Rachel Forman, O&S Holdings' vice president of corporate marketing, said preliminary plans for the area include refurbishing and developing a "retail and entertainment, tourist-driven development."

The adjacent property now includes a welcoming terminal for Carnival Cruise Lines and a number of smaller businesses and shops. Ehrenberg said the parking area could be developed to add more entertainment, dining, specialty retail, hotel and meeting space. "It's envisioned as a capstone for the city of Long Beach, to tie the waterfront" to the rest of the city, Ehrenberg said.

O&S has developed 80 other shopping centers and community centers around the U.S.

A Santa Monica shopping center developer is the last person we should hope buys this land. Great article in the long beach district about this. if you're not familiar with the paper it's new to long beach and kind of like a ocweekly or laweekly. you'll find it free around town and no i don't work there.

the developer of behind this offer is a watered down developer with no experience building anything memorable. the land for the queen mary represents a possible world class location for something grand, progressive, etc. Certainly aren't going to get that from a shopping center developer.

don't believe the hype...demand more from your city.

[LB Life07]

I agree with you drisee....I believe that 4 stories is not tall enough especially due to it's vecinity in the downtown area...A hotel should be a little taller. At least the size of the Renaissance!!! I also feel the same way about the West gateway projects! I'm glad that they will be building up that area and adding a pedestrian friendly environment but as far as Im concerned that area of long beach has the potential to have some of the best locations for taller buildings due to the surrounding buildings in that area. I feel they could have went bigger especially since they have the Molasky Pacific project going up right behind the world trade center!! Who knows though.....I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out!! Either way, it's all good news due to the fact that more developments popping up in the area bring better business. Better business will bring more residents and more developments. Hopefully the future developments will take use of the zoning heights in the area!!

[LAMetroGuy]

I was under the impression it would be a six story building, not 4 stories??? Anyway... I agree with some of your points... I wish it was still an Embassy Suites rather than a boutique hotel, oh well.

[InsExchLoft_dweller]

If the other people that consistently contribute to this page are of the mindset that we should improve downtown long beach then we should all hope this hotel esterel is a bust. Not sure how closely you've inspected the plans but it's nothing to get excited about.

what once used to be a planned 11 or 12 story building is now a cheaply designed 4 story building. Just small enough to keep from having to use steel versus wood, which is cheaper of course. this isn't the type of building we need in the heart of downtown. we need something taller and more visually appealing as opposed to another stucco nightmare with fake art deco stylings.

i realize that everyone is excited about the developments in general but take a closer look at the overall plan and it's nothing to get excited about. it's totally disconnnected from pine and has a look that doesn't integrate into anything else in regards to the hardscape and landscape. we should all hope for something better.

would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this as i don't see many of these developments as good for the long term vision, they are all watered down versions of what we should be developing. don't believe the hype.

I guess I don't have the access to the plans to really inspect them. There are some status reports on longbeach.gov that say the hotel is 6 stories... that's about all there is in the description. If you have more then please share.

[LB Life07]

Villa Riviera Slated For $4 Million Renovation

By Carla M. Collado
Staff Writer

One of the most iconic and historic buildings in Long Beach is about to undergo a multi-million-dollar restoration.

The Villa Riviera — located on the corner of Alamitos Avenue and Ocean Boulevard — was built in 1929 and served as a luxury hotel through the Great Depression. Built in the Tudor gothic style with a semblance to the Italian and French Renaissance, the 16-story building converted to private residences in the mid-1950s. In 1979, the city recognized it as a historic landmark, and in 1996 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But with the building in a state of disrepair, 134 residents and members of the Villa Riviera Homeowners Association have decided to fund a $4 million restoration project slated to begin May 15, according to Villa resident Ana Maria McGuan. Plans to restore the entire exterior began taking shape last summer and now include repainting the entire building, restoring windows, decorative plaster and gargoyles, and replacing the main door to match the original.

The most recent major repairs to the building took place in 1989, when the Homeowners Association self-imposed special assessments of $2.5 million to do an earthquake retrofit. McGuan said the Villa Riviera is in dire need of repairs. The city prosecutor’s office already cited the association after discovering the building’s old paint contains lead, she explained. Recent tests also showed that the glazing putty around the building’s windows contains some asbestos, she added.

Once the Villa Riviera’s exterior is stripped of its current coats of paint, it will be repainted using the building’s original colors. In fact, the association hired Restoration Architect Martin Eli Weil to analyze the current paint and find the original color used in 1929.

Spectra Company — which has worked on historic preservation projects such as the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood and the Village Theatre in Westwood — has been contracted to work on the Villa Riviera. In addition to repainting, one of the main challenges Spectra faces is filling all the cracks and holes in the walls, according to McGuan.

The main door of the Villa Riviera also will be replaced. While a solid brass door originally welcomed guests and residents to the hotel decades ago, McGuan said it most likely will be replaced with a custom-designed door similar to it — an all-brass door would be too expensive. The current door is glass and aluminum, according to Michael Burrous of Summit Consultants, who is in negotiations to become project manager for the restoration.

More than a dozen gargoyles that used to sit just under the roof of the building overlooking the city — another staple of the Villa Riviera — will be making a return as well. Workers will use the existing gargoyle statues to make replicas of the three or so pairs that were removed years ago, McGuan explained. They come in four patterns: dogs, bears, eagles and griffins.

“It’s a very rigorous process,” McGuan said. “(But) I think the majority of the residents É 95% of them are right behind the project.”

Burrous said the city has a history of trying to maintain the Villa Riviera’s historical significance. The exterior of the building is almost exactly as it was when it was built in 1929, he said.

Internally, even original elevator equipment is still in use and the villa ballroom was restored to its original design during the earthquake retrofit, he added.

“It’s truly an iconic building,” Burrous said. “(The restoration project) is of major significance because it will help preserve the building for a long time into the future.”

The city’s Cultural Heritage Commission already has approved the painting component of the multi-million-dollar restoration project, according to Jan Ostashay, the city’s Historic Preservation Officer. The remaining aspects of the project are expected to go in front of the commission for approval in June, Ostashay added. The work to complete the entire restoration is expected to last at least one year.

In addition to the restoration project, residents of the Villa Riviera also hope to upgrade the roof lighting to make it more energy efficient in the near future, McGuan explained.

To learn more, visit www.villariviera.net

[LAMetroGuy]

InsExchLoft_dweller, thanks for posting those photos! The roof of your building has amazing views! I am curious as to the views from you place, how much has the Pacifica LB impacted what you can see? From your point of view, do you see the addition of 133 Promenade and Pacifica LB as positive to your area? I like that the new retail to the Promenade so far isn't too shabby (Starbucks, Pinkberry, and Broadway Pizza). For that huge corner space on 133 Promenade...
http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2422.jpg
I am thinking that a big restaurant will go there, something like a Cheesecake Factory??? Do you have any idea as to what will go there? When will the reaturants in your buildings first floor and basement plan on opening???

Thanks again for the photos! One more thing, the photo of the torn up parking lot where the Lyon Promenade project is to be built is a good sight... my guess is that picture is already outdated as more big machines have been digging on that lot.

[drisee]

The hotel that we were talking about up above for the promenade might just be 6 stories versus 4, i can't exactly remember. I'm just disappointed that it's not the original planned above 10 floors as the area needs it to fill in. Downtown needs more of a cool factor and this definitely doesn't do it.

That's great news about he villa riviera though. that building has a lot of character and ads to the blend of old and new around downtown. now we just need more modern to blend things together versus horrible projects like Aqua.

Does anyone know what the steel frame building under construction in between downtown and belmont shore is planning to be, the one on ocean?

[LB Life07]

drisee, I know the project your talking about!! I live just a few blocks from there!! I was wondering the same thing.....I don't think it could be anything other than a large house!! It's location is in a residential neighborhood and it doesn't take up enough land to be a high rise!!

[LAMetroGuy]

The hotel that we were talking about up above for the promenade might just be 6 stories versus 4, i can't exactly remember. I'm just disappointed that it's not the original planned above 10 floors as the area needs it to fill in. Downtown needs more of a cool factor and this definitely doesn't do it.

That's great news about he villa riviera though. that building has a lot of character and ads to the blend of old and new around downtown. now we just need more modern to blend things together versus horrible projects like Aqua.

Does anyone know what the steel frame building under construction in between downtown and belmont shore is planning to be, the one on ocean?

drisee, I live in Aqua and I don't think it is horrible. I love Aqua and so does all my neighbors. If you want to point out horrible projects why don't you ask the tenants of the villa riviera who have driven our many would be developers. Also, if you want to see horrible projects, try City Hall, Performing Arts, or the Pike. I'm not sure what architectural wounderland you live in, maybe you would care to share?

Ohh, that steel frame building on Ocean you are talking about will be three houses.

[drisee]

Lametroguy. I realize that design is subjective and of course you have ever reason to back Aqua since you live there but it's exactly what is wrong with a lot of the new development that the city gets its hands on. it's a stucco nightmare with pasted on fake architecture to make it look like it's from another era, ala art deco. The Pike I agree is another horrible example but look more closely at the pike and you'll see a lot of similarities between it and Aqua. The colors, the finishing, etc. Those go right along with the city place, another eyesore that long beach has to overcome.

Aqua was not originally designed to look like that, it was way more modern with different finishing, etc. The city is the one that pushed that crap onto the project and the developers accommodated them so that they could make their money and move on...but it's not the original design.

thanks goodness that most of the people that were behind such poor decisions such as the pike, city place and aqua are now gone from the city.

i would love to hear others opinions on the topic...preferably people that don't live there and have a vested interest in the project.

[LB Life07]

Does anybody know whats going on with the Shoreline Gateway project. I havn't heard any news on that in a while. The last I heard they were trying to take the property from the long beach cafe!! As of right now all I see on the site is a video store that was cleared out to make room for what is now a nicely decorated parking lot......as for Aqua.....I don't think it's that bad looking, I can see the things that were done with the project that could make some people say that but years from now when the city has a few more high rises in that area, I think aqua will be better appreciated. One thing you can say about long beach is there is a diversity in color when it comes to the buildings!! when you make that drive in on the 710 freeway as you begin to near the 6th street exit, you can really see how nice it is to see all those colors blend together!!

[InsExchLoft_dweller]

InsExchLoft_dweller, thanks for posting those photos! The roof of your building has amazing views! I am curious as to the views from you place, how much has the Pacifica LB impacted what you can see? From your point of view, do you see the addition of 133 Promenade and Pacifica LB as positive to your area? I like that the new retail to the Promenade so far isn't too shabby (Starbucks, Pinkberry, and Broadway Pizza). For that huge corner space on 133 Promenade...
http://mysite.verizon.net/resriq8q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img_2422.jpg
I am thinking that a big restaurant will go there, something like a Cheesecake Factory??? Do you have any idea as to what will go there? When will the reaturants in your buildings first floor and basement plan on opening???

Thanks again for the photos! One more thing, the photo of the torn up parking lot where the Lyon Promenade project is to be built is a good sight... my guess is that picture is already outdated as more big machines have been digging on that lot.

My views are just above the roofline of lennar and olsen. I've lost my view of aqua and the sky room... to the west I was left with a partial view of the clock. The view from the roof is still outstanding (as you have noted). I guess I was not that upset when I heard the hotel was not going to be 10-12 stories as it is pretty close to where I am.

I think the additions are a positive. The quality of olsen is in the living of each unit. Everyone has their opinions on looks but everyone wants a spacious, convenient and quite living quarter. When you walk into a unit at olsen the acoustics are amazing. We had our hoa meeting at the olsen building last month (in a unit directly above the Bus Station) and I honestly could not hear the buses or traffic. The same can not be said at the IE building. But I still love my building. Lennar is still a question... and I am not sure why Lyon is building more rentals.

Judging from the people I have met, the new buildings are bringing in a different crowd. The new crowd cares about DT LB as a place to live and not just party, trash and then go home. You can tell as more of us are starting to show up at the Entertainment District meetings etc. and voice our concerns. I also notice that the new residents are not against tall buildings or short buildings. We just want designs that are well thought out and integrated with the city... this is currently lacking. We want the restaurants to care about the quality of food and not the quality of ass after 10p.

The new places are great. Pinkberry's is doing great... and hopefully the city takes note that cheap imitators like "Peachberry" at the cityplace should be avoided.

The 9.99 shoe store is empty, as well as the bookstore next to it... so I think the city should focus on getting rid of JOE Bagel and Lovers (porn store) and demo'ing the building. I think a newly designed retail block will attract better retailers.

I am indifferent about Starbucks. But I bet you like it since now that you don't have to walk to Albertson's or 3rd/Pine...

The restaurant at 133 Promenade and Broadway will be a Asian Fusion place called Wokano... hopefully it's not another Wasabi's!

The rest of the retail space seems small... I am not sure what stores are planning to go in but there is not a lot of space. I was hoping for retail spaces that were more like the spaces at Santa Monica Promenade but that's not going to be the case. Probably boutiques that don't require alot of stock room space... I guess we'll see. To be honest with you, I wouldn't care if those turned into more living then work spaces. I think those places would be pretty cool to live in as opposed to work.

The restaurant on the first floor of the IE should be completed in June... the cellar will be done first. The cellar is an awesome space... I was down there over the weekend and this place will rock for bands etc. My only concern is noise (when I am not down there). Quinton's will be a great eatery serving New Orleans style Gumbo etc.

Overall, I am excited about the promenade. Yes, I lose my views but I welcome the new neighbors. I think the residents will use the promenade when it's done and will hopefully outnumber the homeless who use it. I don't think you can drive away homeless but their are certainly ways to manage it. I think the city has been waiting for these developments to complete so that they can hear from the people who are and will be moving in. In some ways they started from scratch and models that succeeded in other cities aren't always going to work in ours.

[LAMetroGuy]

Well said, I think everything will come together eventually. I agree about the Peachberry thing... hopefully the city will maintain some integrity and ensure these type of retailers are not so good for the city. I am glad to see the 9.99 shoe store go away, also the jewlelry store on the corner of broadway and pine is going out of business. maybe new retail will move into that location. as for the site of the 9.99 shoe outlet and sex shop, my understanding is the Williams and Dame is proposing a "luma/evo" type of development for this site and will include a lifestyle market and gym at ground level. My guess is that they are buying up these properties and will be torn down (crossing fingers).

I am curious about the Wokano, hopefully it will be a good restaurant, looks like it will be pretty big. Any other idea as to retailers?

Regarding the new Starbucks, yeah... we have a lot already and I was hopeing for a Coffee Bean instead, but its better than what was there before. I have noticed a lot less homeless in that strip of the promenade since it opened. I am curious about the Jar Restaruant opening up at the R Hotel.

thanks again for posting those pictures! Great views!

[drisee]

ya, i hear the same thing about the 9.99 shoe store location. i hear they're going to hold out on filling it or find a temporary tenant and eventually redevelop that entire block, golds included. that would be cool as i always thought golds should be on the second floor with retail underneath. that block hopefully goes high. only problem is parking but hopefully the city comes down on the necessary parking per development and we become more about walking, biking and public transportation as opposed to driving cars.

definitely curious about the restaurant, hopefully it's a nice one and not just another cheesy chain. i think we have enough of those for now. anything close in style to wasabis would suck. that place belongs in sunset beach or huntington.

i read some good things about the jar restaurant that is supposedly opening up so i'm looking forward to that one.

insexchdweller, i hear the same things about the olson project. although i'm not a fan of the look, i hear it's a quality build. i also hear the pacific one next to it isn't.

fyi on the promenade though, i would be concerned with the hardscape and landscape issues they are proposing for it. it's pretty cheap looking and it doesn't seem to blend well with pine. not that pine is great but what concerns me is that there is no overall plan to tie things together, everything is piecemeal. i would make a beef about the ampitheatre as its a watered down version of what it used to be. the old amphitheatre, although run down had the right idea. the new proposed plans isn't even a real ampitheatre. i would urge you and your tenants to fight for that to be redesigned. now that you have people moving in there you can support and protect a nice amphitheatre from being overrun by homeless. the one the city has planned is crappy.

oh, the shoreline gateway project that lblife07 was talking about by the old video store. that project has some nice plans in place for it but it's battling through the city. i think the villa riviera people are putting up a fight due to their view being blocked. i have to question, what's more important, your full view or a vibrant city developing around you. i'll take the vibrant city.

[LAMetroGuy]

Lametroguy. I realize that design is subjective and of course you have ever reason to back Aqua since you live there but it's exactly what is wrong with a lot of the new development that the city gets its hands on. it's a stucco nightmare with pasted on fake architecture to make it look like it's from another era, ala art deco. The Pike I agree is another horrible example but look more closely at the pike and you'll see a lot of similarities between it and Aqua. The colors, the finishing, etc. Those go right along with the city place, another eyesore that long beach has to overcome.

Aqua was not originally designed to look like that, it was way more modern with different finishing, etc. The city is the one that pushed that crap onto the project and the developers accommodated them so that they could make their money and move on...but it's not the original design.

thanks goodness that most of the people that were behind such poor decisions such as the pike, city place and aqua are now gone from the city.

i would love to hear others opinions on the topic...preferably people that don't live there and have a vested interest in the project.

I don't agree with everthing are saying. Regarding me defending aqua... i liked it before i bought my place there... hence buying my place. I own other properties in Long Beach, I think its a good investment. You may not like the "fake architecture" but that's your call. Like I said, I am curious as to where you live and what architecture you find interesting about your place of residence? Comparing colors and finish between Aqua and the Pike is a bit of a stretch, what I don't like about the pike is how it interacts with the city... Aqua interacts with the city like the rest of the residential highrises on the south side of Ocean, which is fine by me. I like the look of the buildings from both the north and south side. I like the colors and I love the views from my balcony. To me it seems like most of your posts here are full of unsupported rhetoric... spouting off about a 4 story hotel Esteral that no one has ever seen. Then you findo out that the structure will be 6 stories. It seems like you loose a little bit of integrity when you complain about an unbuilt project and you don't have all the facts. I would suggest getting all the facts before pre-judging projects that haven't been built. Do you work for the city? do you have special insight that we don't? do you know something we don't? why not share your knowledge. Judging by your posts, you either know something and speak to this knowledge, or you are speaking to assumptions and act as if they are fact. (i.e. everything from the hotel Esteral, to the promenade projects and the original deisgn of aqua). :shrug: Lastly, judging by most of your posts here on SSP (which is almost all of them), it looks like you may have some hidden agenda with the Hotel Esteral... which is fine, but this may not be the best place to vent your feelings over this project. :D

[drisee]

I appreciate the feedback and open discussion. On to the fun stuff...

Where i live is irrelevant. This shouldn't be a pissing match between your place or mine. I'm happy you like your place. I'll give you the point of having it interact with the city versus the pike that doesn't interact at all. Of course how could it not interact as two high rises. Those two projects are way different in scope. My point with that project is that you'll be hard pressed to find anyone with a design background to agree with you. It was changed around by the city, that's a fact. I'm sure it won't be on anyones architectural tour anytime soon. We should demand more from our city...that's all i'm saying. If i were you i would take a field trip to some more progressive cities...hell take the blue line to downtown LA.

Unsupported rhetoric? I like that. I'm just here to have fun and chat with hopefully some like minded people. I also enjoy the occasional debate with non like minded people. Most people on here seem to be speculating. who cares if i reported a 4 story building versus 6, the point i was making was that it was too short and below its original plans. I think it's actually planned for 7 stories but who cares, you get the point. Not only is it short but it doesn't look interesting at all. Another forgettable development. Other then that i have nothing else against the hotel.

Of course i'm going to prejudge buildings before they're built. Isn't that the idea? If we wait to judge until they're built we can't do anything about it. Does anyone else feel like doing something about versus just sitting here and talking about it. Why let the city build something like the Pike and then complain about it afterward. We should comment before hand...that's the idea. After all we live here. Most of the people planning this crap don't.

Not everything i say is fact, some of it is speculation. i don't work for the city but i live here and that's good enough. I want more from the city that i invested in and you should too.

At the end of the day i may be somewhat new to this site but what are we all here to do? Chat about that things that interest us right? But what if we could do more then that? I don't want to just talk about buildings i don't like and get disappointed with other plans that are never developed. I would also like to do something about it and communicate with the city. Am i the only one...does anybody else care enough? Would love to hear your thoughts.

[LB Life07]

L.B.'s office market growth continues
By Don Jergler, Staff writer
Article Launched: 05/09/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT


LONG BEACH - Downtown's office market continues to grow healthier, a report shows.
Nine-tenths of all the area's office space is leased, according to findings from Cushman & Wakefield's 1st Quarter 2007 Office Building Market Survey.

The good news for downtown follows another recent recognition. Downtown was named one of the top 10 turnaround downtowns by the Urban Land Institute.

Overall occupancy rates for the first quarter showed the area was 90.81 percent leased, according to the Cushman & Wakefield report.

The area saw a 4 percent increase in the average asking rate on leases, the report shows.

"Downtown Long Beach is experiencing its most positive market conditions since the late 1980s with the trends pointing towards a tighter market and increasing rental rates," said Robert Garey, senior director of Cushman & Wakefield.

Garey credited the investment in new housing and the addition of retail amenities, thereby making the area attractive to tenants.

Vacancy rates in downtown Long Beach have fallen during the past four years while lease rates continue to rise.

At the beginning of 2005, monthly rates for Class B office space on Ocean Boulevard in downtown, for example, were roughly $1.45 per square foot. The new report shows those rates were over $1.80.
Office space is divided into three categories: Class A, Class B and Class C.

Class A office space, typically the newer high-rise space with amenities, is $2.33 per square foot, according to the report.

The average office lease per month in the city is $2.05 per square foot, below Los Angeles County's overall average of $2.11 square foot.

And office space rates compare favorably to nearby Orange County, where rates can reach more than $3 per square foot.

In downtown Long Beach, the last of significant office construction took place in the late 1980s, with large projects like the World Trade Center and Shoreline Square. That flooded the market with more than 1.4 million square feet of available office space at once.

"Our seaside location situated between Orange County and downtown Los Angeles, is ideal; plus, overall rents are more competitive compared to the county average," said Kraig Kojian, president and CEO of Downtown Long Beach Associates.

For information on office space in downtown call (562) 436-4259 or visit www.downtownlongbeach.org.

[drisee]

I'm wondering if they are planning for any new office buildings in downtown. From what i've seen i don't think they are but i can imagine that as the residential market slows down that commercial is the next thing that comes into the spotlight. Nice to see that there's a demand for it because i'm never sure how many jobs are available in the downtown area.

[LB Life07]

I'm wondering if they are planning for any new office buildings in downtown. From what i've seen i don't think they are but i can imagine that as the residential market slows down that commercial is the next thing that comes into the spotlight. Nice to see that there's a demand for it because i'm never sure how many jobs are available in the downtown area.

As for the last reports I heard concerning long beach.....the residential market hasn't slowed that much!! I feel that as the residential market continues to grow, eventually the commercial will grow!! You need jobs to support the many new residents that happen to be moving in! I believe that many of the reasons downtown is beginning to thrive now is because of all the recent residential space that's been added.

[drisee]

i guess i just hope that the jobs are here and long beach continues to sustain itself versus outgrowing the available jobs. since i'm not looking for jobs it's hard for me to comment but i never think of long beach, especially downtown as a hotbed for new jobs. i think the downtown needs to diversify its economy and lure some new industry into town, hopefully more creative industries that bring along creative people that make a city great.

like you mentioned LB life, we need jobs to support the new units going up for sale. throughout our history we've seen industries sink, jobs leave and people leave, hence the cycle of ups and downs.

[LB Life07]

yeah, but the city has to appeal to these types of industries for them to want to take interest in the area!! That's why you get the mixed use buildings so you bring residents and retail and the whole environment begins to thrive......it shows that there is a sense of life and that sense of life will begin to appeal to the masses. Long Beach is headed in the right direction.....people are taking notice of the transformation. Remember Downtown was a complete ghost town for years.......The transformation that's already occured is amazing.....I only see promising things from here on out!! I feel that the city recognizes it's past mistakes and is trying hard to make sure the same mistakes don't happen again. You must create the environment first......kind of like the movie field of dreams!! If you build it, they will come :D

[LAMetroGuy]

Pressures Mounting In Real Estate Markets

By Jennifer Wang
Staff Writer

As the second quarter gets underway, the big news in real estate is the downturn in the housing market. But, according to Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, it might be a good idea to turn a little of that attention back to the industrial and commercial real estate sectors.

“Everybody is saying that non-residential [markets] are fine, but we have to watch everything,” he says, because industry professionals in those sectors continue to confront ever-rising construction costs and land prices. In addition, some areas may be feeling a strain from having a surplus of a certain type of product, but a shortage of another.

For example, the lack of developable land is an ongoing issue in the industrial real estate market, but very little is being done to address the issue. “In Los Angeles County, you have an incredibly low industrial vacancy rate: 1.5 percent. Yet you have people out there saying there’s no demand for industrial space since manufacturing employment is declining – but there are other users of industrial space, including the logistics, international trade, entertainment and publishing industries,” Kyser says.

Instead, a greater portion of the land is being allocated to the retail sector. “Cities chase retail because it gets them sales tax,” he says. “But if everyone is chasing retail, who is creating the space we need for good-quality manufacturing jobs? A lot of people, especially in Los Angeles, are concerned that the middle class is eroding, and industrial space can make room for those middle-class jobs.”

Advocating for more industrial space can be a “pretty lonely fight,” Kyser says, especially when these types of properties tend to be older and not as aesthetically pleasing as a new mixed-use development. He also points out that mixed use remains a popular trend, but the jury’s still out on whether these projects can be as successful as predicted.

“That’s been hot – having retail on the ground floor and residential up above – but you’ve got to be very careful about what type of retail you put there because the market is so competitive,” he cautions. “Too many people say, ‘Oh, well we have space to lease out to whoever comes down the pike,’ but that’s not going to work. You’re going to have high turnover and you’re not going to be successful unless you have a retail strategy. A lot of people are very nervous about retail because there’s just so much space coming online, but it seems to be the same stores.”

While vacancy in the office market isn’t nearly as tight as it is for the industrial sector, Kyser predicts a few “unexpected bumps and bruises” due to increased rents and the fact that building new product is very costly. “I think that because you have a lot of high-profile office portfolios being sold, the owners are increasing rental rates to get a return on their investments,” he says. “Now you’re going to have some people bumped out of nice locations – well, where are they going to go?”

There’s an imbalance on the residential side, too. “We’ve obviously had a huge pull-back, but I think people feel there are opportunities on the horizon because mortgage rates are still quite attractive and there’s still a lot of inventory on the market,” Kyser says, “but at the end of the day, the irony is you still have an overall shortage of housing in Los Angeles County . . . of about 290,000 units, as well as a huge lack of affordable housing.

“I think things in real estate are going to get very, very interesting unless people start changing their [development] strategies.”

Long Beach Still Going Strong

Despite these challenges, Long Beach markets appear to be faring well, says Joseph Magaddino, chair of the economics department at California State University, Long Beach.

“The commercial sector is as healthy as I’ve seen it, and the increased economic activity has really bid up the office market significantly – so we’ve seen vacancy rates decline and some upward pressure on rental rates,” Magaddino says. “I don’t see any particular weakness in any of the Long Beach market areas. The downtown looks very, very healthy and that’s great news for the economy.”

Although there is some unoccupied retail space in the city, particularly downtown, Magaddino maintains that the future is bright. “I think we just need to be patient. The reality is that development is a longer-term process, and . . . we’re at the beginning of the trend. So as we pick up more downtown residents and we combine that with the relatively high-paid occupations that we have downtown, along with the tourism base, I think we’ll get the retail people would like to see,” he says. “But it’s not going to happen this year, it’s not going to happen next year, it’s not going to happen the year after – you’re really going to have to wait until you have a synergy with a critical mass of downtown residents.”

As for Long Beach’s slowing residential market, Magaddino’s concern for deflating housing prices is tempered, given that the area still registers low on the affordability index. “The fundamentals – strong employment growth and low interest rates – look pretty good, but the big question mark is really [buyer] expectations,” he says. “I think we’re in for a period of real sluggishness in terms of housing prices and demand . . . but I don’t see the housing correction, at least in Long Beach, as a bloodbath. By historical standards, this is pretty moderate.”

[LAMetroGuy]

Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal Seeks Taxpayer-Paid Feasibility Study For East-West Streetcar Service Linking Downtown And "Vital Points of Interest"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(May 14, 2007) -- Following-through on her comments at the April 17 City Council meeting urging reduced parking requirements for new downtown density and developments coupled with city "investment" in public transit, 2nd district Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal has agendized a May 15 item seeking Council approval for spending taxpayer funds (a city manager contract) for an "independent study of the feasibility in developing a streetcar service with east-west linkage to downtown and vital points of interest in Long Beach that may include California State University Long Beach, Long Beach City College, East Village Arts District, Long Beach Memorial, St. Mary's Hospital and our small business corridors."

Councilwoman Lowenthal's agendizing memo specifies no maximum sum or budgeted source for the study, whose goals she says should include, but not be limited to, the following:



Complements other transportation options offered by Long Beach Transit.
Provides a green transportation alternative for moving people between City landmarks
Determines the physical and financial viability of establishing a streetcar line.
Fits the scale and traffic patterns of existing neighborhoods.
Reduces short inner-city auto trips, parking demand and traffic congestion.


During her April 17 Council remarks, reported at length at the time by LBReport.com, Councilwoman Lowenthal said in part:

So if we say we need higher density in the downtown, well, we need to actually invest in what would require a higher density to come. And so why is it that Vancouver can have their developments park at such a lower rate that we think ours must? Why is it that Portland [OR] does it? And why those cities now and not us today?...

[I]...I want to live in a city where we can have a Manhattan of our own, or we can have a Vancouver or a Portland. What that may also mean is that we need to invest in other forms of transportation. I for one will be advocating for a light rail such as a streetcar that I saw in Portland. Nothing excited me more than that streetcar...

As background for her May 15 agendized request, Councilwoman Lowenthal tells the Council:

Throughout the nation, cities are rediscovering the benefits of streetcar systems linking emerging downtown business and residential districts with nearby points of interest such as universities, hospitals, retail corridors and tourist destinations. Streetcars are becoming the preferred mode of alternative transportation in dense urban centers, enabling people to park once then navigate a city's many sectors jumping on and off at will . The streetcar is serving as a catalyst for change and helping communities maximize their public/private investment . This is due in part to the fixed nature of the rail infrastructure, which implies permanence - generating confidence that it is going to be there for a long time . The rail system is also highly visible, with an easily understood route, and the quiet, pollution-free electric trolleys blend in well with the community.

Numerous cities, including Portland, Philadelphia, Little Rock, Tampa, Dallas and New Orleans have integrated streetcars into their existing transportation network using new low cost, low impact rail design and smaller cars that minimize changes to infrastructure and utilities.

As I mentioned during my travel report at our April 10th Council meeting, the City of Portland is emerging as a leader among U .S . cities by demonstrating its commitment to mobility through the implementation of alternative transportation options like the streetcar, which connects Portland State University with other parts of Portland, including its high-density residential and economic centers in downtown such as the Pearl District and South Waterfront . This innovative fusion of residential, arts, commercial and academic sectors attracts a creative class of individuals to the city's urban core and actively contributes to its longterm sustainability.

The Portland Streetcar is designed to fit the scale and traffic patterns of the neighborhoods through which it travels . Streetcar vehicles, manufactured by Skoda-Inekon in Plzen of the Czech Republic, are 2.46 meters (about 8 feet) wide and 20 meters long (about 66 feet) . They run in mixed traffic and, except at platform stops, accommodate existing curbside parking and loading . The Portland Streetcar is owned and operated by the City of Portland . A unique shallow 12-inch deep track slab design reduces the construction time and utility relocations . Maneuverability of the shorter and narrower Skoda vehicles has allowed the 8- foot wide track slab to be fitted to existing grades, limiting the scope of street and sidewalk reconstruction .

http://www.lightrailnow.org/images/por-lrt-stc-psu-stn-382-2003nov_lh.jpg

Long time residents of Long Beach will remember our own streetcars, which were fondly called "red cars" or "Blimps" due to their large size . Charles Rivers Drake, a new resident to Long Beach and a former employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad, petitioned the city council to consider a plan for the creation of an electric interurban transit line connecting Long Beach and Los Angeles . Reaching a top speed of ten miles per hour, this "high speed" system was considered a sure-fire means of enticing potential residents and supporting a growing tourist industry. With the first run of the red car in 1902, Long Beach solidified its place among visitors as the "Coney Island of the West" . More trolley lines followed so that by 1927, Long Beach had over 30 miles of streetcar tracks offering 30 all-steel, open air cars that seated up to 64 passengers . Combined with the development of the harbor and discovery of oil in Signal Hill, the streetcar helped make Long Beach one of the fastest growing cities in the country .

The streetcar's return on the national scene has been dramatic as an urban circulator and economic development catalyst . Projects across the country have delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in private development investment for the communities they serve . A streetcar system with east-west linkage will attract more people to our downtown and waterfront areas and serve ongoing residential and commercial development.

[LAMetroGuy]

L.B. streetcar plan may get on track
Council: Lowenthal says transit system would cut use of cars, unify the city.
By Don Jergler, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Article Launched:05/13/2007 10:02:22 PM PDT

LONG BEACH - City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal has a desire for streetcars, and she's asking fellow council members to back her plan to use mass transit to connect downtown with CSULB and other points of interest.

Lowenthal has placed on Tuesday's City Council agenda a request for an independent study on the feasibility of developing east-west streetcar service in Long Beach.

The linkage could include Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach City College, the East Village Arts District, Long Beach Memorial and St. Mary Medical Center.

"I don't exactly know what the best lines will be," Lowenthal said.

The streetcar could run down Broadway to Redondo Avenue and on to the university, she said, adding, "There are a lot of assets within the city that could be part of this."

ADD YOUR VOICE
What: Long Beach City Council meeting

When: 5 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Council Chambers, City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.

TV: Broadcast live on Charter Cable channel 8 and replayed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

Internet: Live broadcast and previous council meetings available at http://www.longbeach.gov/cityclerk/council_online.asp


The idea would be to start with a spine, and later have spokes connecting out to more points, she said.

"It doesn't have to be all things at once and right away," Lowenthal said. "We're at the very starting point. We want people to be able to navigate the city without having to take their car point to point."

Lowenthal got the idea after a recent visit to Portland.

"What fascinated me most was their streetcar system," said Lowenthal, whose background is in urban planning.

"What I realized when I saw the map (of the city), was Portland is not too much unlike the city of Long Beach."

Portland's streetcar runs along a loop from the civic center to a university and back.

"What it has done to link the university - faculty, staff and students - to residential opportunities is incredible," she said. "There were so many glaring positives that I saw."

A study would look at costs, feasibility and traffic and environmental impacts.

A later council vote would be required to actually approve such a project.

Also on Tuesday's agenda is a recommendation to approve requests for a site plan review for the Seaport Marina project on Second Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

The project, being undertaken by developer Lennar, would see the hotel torn down and replaced by 170,000 square feet of commercial space, 425 residential units and 1,700 parking spaces. The mixed-use development would be from three to five stories tall.

The development requires rezoning. Advocates of the development say it will improve the area aesthetically and economically.

Project opponents, who have an appeal pending that seeks to overturn Planning Commission approval of the project, say the development will worsen traffic at the busy intersection.

A request to continue the item to a later meeting has been filed, said Greg Carpenter of the city's Planning Department.

However, the item stayed "on the agenda and there will be a discussion," he said. "Whether or not it gets continued will be up to the City Council."

Seaport Marina

Don Jergler can be reached at don.jergler@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1281.

[regboi21]

It is great that this wonderfull city is considering streetcars in the future the streetcars would add a nice touch to long beach ca.I think they should reuse the old right of way on the corner of ximeno ave and east 7th st for a future streetcar/lightrail or rapid bus line from lakewood mall to the university of long beach.

[LAMetroGuy]

Long Beach has a very good Passport system and I'm not sure how a Streetcar can be justified??? I like the idea, however I would first like to see what proposed lines would be included.

On another note, here is an updated color rendering of the OceanAire project near Ocean and Pine:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/OceanAire.jpg

[drisee]

I think we can definitely justify light rail as buses are boring. Light rail would help put us on the map as a cool city. I definitely think it has an economic benefit as well as it makes it easier for tourists to get around not to mention residents. also it's just a sign of the times as we need to be less dependent on our cars in the future.

anybody know when the oceanaire project is scheduled to break ground?