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Originally Posted by LAMetroGuy
"I'll go holiday shopping to Fashion Island in Newport Beach before coming here," said Long Beach resident Ed Schibig, who was spending a lunch break shopping at Nordstrom Rack last week.
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Thanks for posting that article, LAmG. When I see Schibig's comment, I'm reminded again that if a city takes too long to improve its hoods, such places will be in rocky shape for a long time & will easily lose out to other towns.
I knew there was some growing pains with the new Pike devlpt, but I was hoping the somewhat older & more ideally located CityPlace was doing much better. It certainly has to be doing better than the old LB Plaza it replaced.
I know that reported attendance problems with the LB Aquarium awhile back were attributed to lack of devlpt around the bldg, so if the new nearby Pike area turns out to not be adding enough energy to the area, that will be totally unacceptable.
The designers of the Pike should have done no less than what Rick Caruso did with his Grove proj (or prob what his future Glendale proj will be like), & I hope the owners will insert improvements that should have been there to begin with. The local population around CityPlace also needs to be much larger & has to have a higher level of disposable income. Nonetheless, I'm more optimistic about DT LB's potential today than in the past, & if the city can start building even more quality housing throughout the area, DT may finally start to pick up speed.
Newport Bch is nice, but I think DT LB is more interesting. Hopefully ppl who live in NB in the future will be saying "I'll go holiday shopping in Long Beach & visit the various sights up there before sticking around here to see the same-old, same-old Fashion Island."