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  #261  
Old Posted Sep 8, 2005, 9:32 AM
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Well its no wonder there hasn't been much built in long beach in such a long time cause people who live there don't want new highrises. Things seem to be changing now thou and i hope the city understands that it needs to grow and if that means blocking views and more traffic then they just need to deal with it or leave.
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  #262  
Old Posted Sep 8, 2005, 4:14 PM
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RBR, I agree... a lot of people come to downtown LB with suburban views and visions on how the city should grow... but downtown LB is very urban. They need to take their suburban views and go to Kansas!
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  #263  
Old Posted Sep 15, 2005, 7:16 AM
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Re: Re: East Village condos

Quote:
Originally Posted by LA rehab
Quote:
Originally Posted by LBCJeremy
A developer is building 30 luxury condo units next to the Broadlind on a current surface lot on Linden Av. He's including 100 extra parking spots for the people who live in the Lafayette. I
I believe that one can still find some VERY REASONABLY priced units in the Lafayette. Now you have me itching to go check it out.
You're nuts. They're outrageously expensive because they're historic and beautiful. ANY other older condo will be cheaper. My building has seen the biggest value jumps in the area, 230 Linden. I'm talking 100% in a year. The East Village has really gotten more crowded, there's more stuff to do, places to, well, have coffee...we need some good restaurants here. Utopia is horrendous. I totally got the best apartment in the hood, and I knew it would be the best one. Damn I'm good. There's one in my bldg for 260 I think, about 100K less than a similar-sized unit in the Lafayette I'd guess.
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  #264  
Old Posted Sep 15, 2005, 7:38 AM
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Man, I would love to see huge highrises popping up on the city hall west block. Cram this hood full of people so we get some better stores and stuff opening up. Desperately need some more restaurants here! I never go to Pine because it's full of ghetto scumbags. If we ever get chains here in the EV, I hope they're Pottery Barn and stuff like that, so the urchins won't be able to afford to shop there.

Also, please please, my querido developers, PLEASE TOTALLY DEMOLISH that hideous eyesore of a parking garage on Elm!!!!!!! It ruins the whole neighborhood's feel, it completely destroys Elm Av at that point. It bothers me so much.
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  #265  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2005, 3:26 AM
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West Ocean Update

Well, it looks like they finally broke ground on the second tower (22 story) which is directly south of the first tower (29 stories). Here is an updated picture of the project...

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  #266  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2005, 10:16 PM
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What is the ratio of people in long beach? is it like downtown la? immigrants/mexicans and a few rich folks in suits?
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  #267  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2005, 1:20 AM
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What is the ratio of people in long beach? is it like downtown la? immigrants/mexicans and a few rich folks in suits?

Huh?
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  #268  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2005, 4:28 AM
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Originally Posted by RBR
What is the ratio of people in long beach? is it like downtown la? immigrants/mexicans and a few rich folks in suits?
That comment/question is pretty insulting...
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  #269  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2005, 7:50 AM
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Sorry i don't mean insult anyone, just wanted to know what type of people live in this area, middle class or rich or whatever. I am thinking of moving and i want to live in a decent area. I been living downtown for a while and its pretty lame, things are getting better but its not like i can afford some upscale condo around here anyway.
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  #270  
Old Posted Sep 28, 2005, 8:10 PM
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  #271  
Old Posted Oct 4, 2005, 7:44 PM
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Paradise, Long Beach style
Only the grating music keeps the Mai Tai Bar from being an island of bliss near the aquarium in downtown Long Beach
By Al Rudis, Restaurant editor

YOU'RE ON the North Shore of Oahu, or maybe it's Maui or the Big Island or Kauai.

Whichever island it is, you're on the lanai of a luxury hotel, relaxing with a mai tai and watching the sunset as a talented slack key guitarist softly plays and sings Hawaiian songs. Just another lousy day in paradise, you are thinking.

Now your vacation is over, and you're back in Long Beach. You're wandering around the new Pike at Rainbow Harbor and decide to go up the steps next to Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. and get a view of the area around the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Wait! What's that verandah at the top of the steps with the sign that says no one under 21 allowed?

You walk in and you are transported back to the middle of the Pacific. It's as if they chopped out a chunk of that luxury hotel and flew it over to Long Beach.

You sit down in the outside area of the Mai Tai Bar and order some of the appetizers on the menu, or maybe one of the two entrees, and wow! Not only are they good, but they're very good and beautifully displayed on the plates. You sip your mixed drink, and you are relaxed, Hawaiian style.

You hear a few chords, and you think, they've thought of everything, even music. Then the music starts and you are jolted. What's this? Who's that person singing the hits of the '80s at the top of his lungs to the accompaniment of his overamplified acoustic guitar? It's totally inappropriate to the food, the atmosphere, the wonderful service, everything that makes this place special. Too bad!

It's not this way at the original Mai Tai Bar, according to General Manager Bagus "Goose" Anak-Agung-Gede. It came about when the owners of Bubba Gump's in the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Oahu were offered property across from the restaurant by the center's landlords.

"The concept was that they just wanted a lounge feel so that everyone could relax and enjoy the music," said Anak-Agung-Gede. What kind of music? I asked. "Hawaiian music in Hawaii," he said.

Why not Hawaiian music here? I asked.

"We do have some," he said. "Jerome Gray does a little Hawaiian music. But the solo music during the day is more like cover songs."

Here's my suggestion for changing the Mai Tai Bar in Long Beach from an unusually nice place to a nearly perfect place: Contact some of the huge reservoir of Hawaiian music talent in Southern California. There's more than enough to play tuneful, atmospheric music from 4 to 7 p.m. every Monday through Saturday and 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

And if I'm wrong (I doubt it) and there's not enough good Hawaiian music around, how about some soft jazz or a crooner singing old Tin Pan Alley classics. Save the loud, edgy stuff for the bands that perform later in the night, when the mood is more enervated.

Meanwhile, my advice is to get a table as far from the bandstand as possible and enjoy the rest of what makes the Mai Tai Bar unique, especially such dishes as:

Onion rings. Vidalia onions are sliced and dipped in a batter of buttermilk, flour, eggs, salt, pepper and a special dry seasoning mix.

"It's used on a lot of our food," said Christine Hall, who's the chef of both the Mai Tai Bar and Bubba Gump's right below it. But even though the menu at the Mai Tai is relatively small, it's not cooked at Bubba Gump's and brought upstairs. Mai Tai has it's own small kitchen, and when Christine is needed downstairs, Sous Chef Jason Lloyd handles everything upstairs.

Hall said the Thai seasoning mix includes cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg and was developed by the Bubba Gump's and Mai Tai executive chef Martin Ibarra, whose home office is in Monterey.

The onion rings are served with homemade "Chinese barbecue sauce' for dipping. It's a strong sauce, containing hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce, plum sauce, oyster sauce and a lot of raw garlic. Vegetarian potstickers. "We get them through a company called Berner Food Service," said Hall. "We picked out the ones we like the most that fill our need for a vegetarian product. The main ingredients are cabbage, onions, carrots, celery, tofu and eggs. We saute them in sesame oil for flavor and then flambe them to get them steamed and make sure they're hot." The potstickers come with another tasty homemade dip, Huli Huli sauce, which contains soy sauce, cilantro, garlic and the special Thai seasoning mix.

Blackened chicken spring rolls. Blackened translates to Cajun spices, including Cayenne pepper, that are burned onto the meat for the blackened effect. But this is a surprisingly mild blackened appetizer, and Hall thinks it's because of the pesto made from honey, cilantro, pine nuts and rice wine vinegar, all pureed together.

The already blackened chicken is wrapped into spring roll wrappers with the pesto. Then the rolls are deep-fried and cut up and served like sushi rolls. "Once you roll the chicken in the sauce, it really evens it out," said Hall.

The rolls are served with some more of the pesto for dipping, and also a Thai vinaigrette made from sweet chili sauce, chili garlic sauce and fresh mint.

Barbecued baby back ribs. The ribs are cooked at low heat for six hours and then topped with the same Chinese barbecue sauce that's served with the onion rings.

Edamame. The soybeans are tossed in olive oil, sea salt and pepper and then steamed in a bamboo steamer and served in the same steamer.

Flat Iron Steak. Executive Chef Ibarra created this dish, Hall said. "Flat iron is a shoulder cut," she said. "It's really popular right now and it holds up well to being broiled at high temperatures." The steaks are cooked on a gas charbroiler with a simple seasoning of kosher salt and pepper. Then they are cut into strips and served over rice, topped with a Chinese mustard sauce of mustard powder, horseradish, rice vinegar and wasabi.

Hoisin glazed salmon. The 8-ounce filet of Atlantic salmon marinated for two hours in hoisin sauce and then charbroiled to medium rare. It's served over rice with the Chinese barbecue sauce.

Three-cheese panini. Tim Busuld, the vice president, developed this dish, Hall said. It's a hot sandwich of fresh baked ciabatta bread with the house cheese spread — cream cheese, parsley and lemon juice — plus a baby spring mix of salad greens, tomatoes, onions and mozzarella, Monterey jack and provolone cheeses. All of this is cooked in a panini press ("It's like a flat top with teeth — that's what makes the lines in it," said Hall.) until the cheese is gooey hot.

Caesar salad. Petite romaine lettuce, homemade croutons from baguette bread that's toasted with a garlic herb oil, fresh grated parmesan cheese and a dressing made for Mai Tai by a food company.

Daikon slaw. This comes with almost every dish as a garnish, but don't just look at it. It's daikon radish, carrots and cucumbers grated and marinated in the Thai vinaigrette, and it's delicious by itself.

Chocolate torte. These are actually baked in the small kitchen first thing in the morning from bittersweet chocolate melted in a double boiler and combined with eggs, sugar and water. It's cooked in a ring and then reheated before serving with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce. "Our whole goal is when you cut into it with a fork, you kind of get a molten lava effect," said Hall.

Key lime pie. Also homemade, it's lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and cream cheese baked in a graham cracker crust.

The prices are reasonable at Mai Tai. There are only two entrees, the flat iron steak, $16, and the salmon, $13, but there are so many appetizers, dinner salads and sandwiches — even shrimp tacos — that it's easy to create a full meal from several small dishes. For instance, the chicken Caesar salad and barbecue baby back ribs will fill you up and probably leave you with leftovers for a total of $17. That's not cheap, but this is gourmet food disguised as bar snacks.

Service is excellent. The company philosophy is to "hire off personality, because we can train anybody as a cocktail server, but you can't train personality," Anak-Agung-Gede said. My servers had both personality and efficiency.

Another qualification seems to be the knack for looking good in short denim skirts that are the uniform in the day and early evening. Later the uniform changes to black skirts, said Anak-Agung-Gede, who refers to the employees as cocktail servers, even though — at least in the early evening — they are carrying more food than drinks around. He said that he has "all female servers right now," but it's definitely not a Hooters type operation.

So on the plus side there's the food, the service and the setting. What more could Mai Tai offer? Well, maybe some inclusive — rather than intrusive — music in the early evening.

Then it would really become like a bit of the islands re-created in Long Beach.
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  #272  
Old Posted Oct 5, 2005, 7:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RBR
Sorry i don't mean insult anyone, just wanted to know what type of people live in this area, middle class or rich or whatever. I am thinking of moving and i want to live in a decent area. I been living downtown for a while and its pretty lame, things are getting better but its not like i can afford some upscale condo around here anyway.
It's completely different from downtown LA. It's hardly a business district at all, it's full of residential and retail and is close to lots of very nice neighborhoods. It's a totally different kind of place, it's just also a downtown.
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  #273  
Old Posted Oct 5, 2005, 7:52 PM
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Originally Posted by LAMetroGuy
Paradise, Long Beach style
Only the grating music keeps the Mai Tai Bar from being an island of bliss near the aquarium in downtown Long Beach
Is there anyone really happy or proud of that stupid aquarium? I know, I'm so negative, but seriously. Everything they build downtown no matter what it is gets praise and slobber all over it? The Pike is a disaster, worse than a sea of parking lots. City Place is a joke. I have never even been near the aquarium, I hardly even know where it is. I avoid that government-developed wasteland south of Ocean at all costs. I don't even walk down ocean and I live two blocks away -- it's a canyon of ugly 1980s buildngs that only exist through eminent domain. I saw a picture of what used to line Ocean and whoever ran this city in the 80s should be hung from that Star Wars-inspired City Hall.

</rant>
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  #274  
Old Posted Oct 6, 2005, 4:36 AM
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As bad as City Place is, it's much better than the horrible mall it replaced. And I hear the Aquarium's nice, I wouldn't know, I can't afford it.

I agree that a lot of the other developments are very unfriendly places, meant only to be visited by car. Shoreline Drive is basically just a freeway. It especially hurts when you see pics of the old city, with it's namesake beach, beautiful buildings and streets filled with people.

That said, I think Pine Avenue is redeveloping very nicely, at least up to say 4th Street. Esp. the block with Z Gallerie, Express, and Bath/Body on the corner. I was there tonight and was impressed by how that area keeps getting more and more lively.

The big challenge now is to figure out how to connect everything. The biggest attractions, The Pike and Pine Avenue, are separated by Ocean Blvd, very ped-unfriendly. It's absolutely key that all new development be designed in a more aesthetically-pleasing way. Most important to me is to demolish and rebuild the civic center/library complex/monstrosity.
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  #275  
Old Posted Oct 6, 2005, 6:39 AM
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The Library is kind of cool when you're inside, but from the street it does look like a bunker.
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  #276  
Old Posted Oct 6, 2005, 6:05 PM
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Originally Posted by LongBeachUrbanist
As bad as City Place is, it's much better than the horrible mall it replaced.
That's not an excuse. The city should have had nothing to do with building anything anywhere. The mall failed because there was no market for it, and it was a stupid idea anyhow. Now Shitty Place with it's Wal-Mart that the city BEGGED to go in there, a block from million-dollar lofts, packed with people that don't even live in the neighborhood (thank GOD for small favors).

Quote:
And I hear the Aquarium's nice, I wouldn't know, I can't afford it.
And just think, you pay for it anyhow.

Quote:
I agree that a lot of the other developments are very unfriendly places, meant only to be visited by car. Shoreline Drive is basically just a freeway. It especially hurts when you see pics of the old city, with it's namesake beach, beautiful buildings and streets filled with people.
Yeah that's what I'm saying. Attractive, organic development, not massive unapproachable subsidized monstrosities.

Quote:
That said, I think Pine Avenue is redeveloping very nicely, at least up to say 4th Street. Esp. the block with Z Gallerie, Express, and Bath/Body on the corner. I was there tonight and was impressed by how that area keeps getting more and more lively.
Yeah, is that what they call throngs of hooting ghettodwellers? Lively? Pine can keep its cheesy ass theme restaurants and its Hooters and its hideous space ship lights.

Quote:
The big challenge now is to figure out how to connect everything. The biggest attractions, The Pike and Pine Avenue, are separated by Ocean Blvd, very ped-unfriendly. It's absolutely key that all new development be designed in a more aesthetically-pleasing way.
If only they had thought of that before they built it all.

Quote:
Most important to me is to demolish and rebuild the civic center/library complex/monstrosity.
Well that's just about the silliest thing ever. Yeah let's bulldoze gigantic buildings and spend $3.9 billion building something else because they're not pretty. I mean, I'm down with blowing up City Hall -- but don't rebuild it. Besides, they have to cut hours at the library to save like $20K. Get real dood.
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  #277  
Old Posted Oct 7, 2005, 2:15 AM
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^
Jeremy you are too funny, and I find your negative comments about the city rather interesting (in a good way).

Although I don't agree with all of your opinions on downtown Long Beach. Still I think it would be good if the city had someone raising questions on someone raising questions on some of our development.

Personally I don't think Pine Avenue is as bad as you. Not that I hang out there much, but I haven't really had the same experience you have. Pine has changed and now its more district of clubs, and bars for the young. I hear there has been some problems this summer. Yet I don't think its any worse than any other district where you have bars and clubs with a bunch of folks drinking. You're bound to have stupid people when they drink.

CityPlace on the other hand is a disappointment IMO. I too hate that Walmart. Yes it bustling and everything, but the clientale is what I hate the most. I'm not even a snotty person, but this place shouldn't be here. I would rather have Target for a low end store instead.

Anyway downtown Long Beach is no where near it's full potential. Overall I think its a good place to live, and currently it has a lot of good things right now. Its on a lot of people radar, and more middle-class is moving in. Yet its not like Santa Monica, and I think I like that. I actually think its nice that we don't get the huge crowds that they get. The beaches are easy to get to (walk or rollerblade) from my place. For me it doesn't matter that we don't have any wave due to the breakwater. I woundn't get in the water or hang out on the sand anyway. I like the fact that its just enough people on the beach/bike path thats its not over crowded. Well thats my two cents on my little neighborhood.

BTW you should go down to the light tower over by the Aquirium. Its a nice hilly park where you can sit and see the city skyline & marina. The best time is to go towards sunset when the city lights are starting come on. Perhaps you may like this spot.
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  #278  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2005, 4:36 PM
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Residents begin to move into Insurance Exchange lofts; other housing projects moving along
By Don Jergler, Staff writer



LONG BEACH — Parking lots, an empty pedestrian walk and a gutted and ramshackle building characterized The Promenade for more than a decade.
It was largely overlooked and little more than a grungy area downtown frequented by the homeless. Aside from the Blue Cafe and the Friday Farmer's Market, which last year moved to CityPace, there was commercial life.

Now activity is stirring in the 81-year-old Insurance Exchange Building at 201 E. Broadway. Construction on a Cajun restaurant and basement club are under way and the first few residents are beginning to move into the 12-loft project.

Among the better known tenants is City Councilman Dan Baker, whose 2nd District includes The Promenade. Baker said he moved to the building for its historic feel and to take advantage of restaurants and entertainment within walking distance.

Looking out windows in an unoccupied unit, developer Dan Peterson reflected on the last six years he's dedicated to the project, which is also his new home.

Peterson and his wife moved from El Segundo two weeks ago to the top-floor loft. He commissioned Walker and Kress Lofts architect Jonathan Glasgow of Interstices to create them a three-level dwelling.

Peterson purchased the building in 1999 for about $1 million.

"The Promenade hasn't changed any for 10 years," Peterson said. "It's just been parking lots."

Despite the lack of progress until recently, Southern California's hot housing market favored the project. Half the units were reserved nearly a year ago, with prices ranging from $569,000 to $769,000 for lofts from 1,450 to 3,000 square feet. All but one unit is sold.

Until the past year, every time Peterson looked around his project, he felt trepidation. Nothing else was happening on The Promenade as the city focused on developing the CityPlace shopping center and Pike at Rainbow Harbor.

"A couple of years into the project, when nothing was happening, I was thinking, /\x27/OK, I've got a problem here," Peterson said.

Now, other parts of The Promenade are stirring: a residential project across the street is under way, final approval has been given for another residential project, and a developer isexpected to present plans at the end of this month for upgrading his project to a four-star hotel next to the building.

Among the features: sweeping views from the lofts' 13 8-foot high bay windows in south-facing units.

"On a clear day you can see the Hollywood sign from here," Peterson said.

By Peterson's estimates, he's invested more than $6 million in refurbishing the 8-story building, including an earthquake retrofit that left I-beams crisscrossing the interior. Peterson left the beams exposed to enhance the industrial feeling.

Exposed ducting and rough concrete ceilings are offset by hardwood maple floors and cherry wood kitchen cabinetry with built-in stainless steel appliances. The lofts are disproportionately longer than wide, with ceilings 12 to 16 feet high.

On the exterior, artistic details of the building had to be retouched and the columns' patterns had to be recreated.

Peterson found photos of the building taken during its grand opening in 1924 and noticed details on the lower columns that had been sanded and covered with steel plates. They blew up the photo to about 4 feet to examine the detail and added terra cotta tiles to the columns.

The building, which was designed by Harvey Lochridge and became Middough's Boy's Shop, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

In the renewal project, the lobby was restored using granite from the original bathrooms. The original marble staircase and a single elevator car lead up to the units.

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, which invested about $400,000, is holding up the Insurance Exchange Building as an example for other downtown developers.

"I think it really sets such a high bar for the quality of The Promenade," said Jae Von Klug, an RDA staff member. "They're really setting the tone for the rest of the development there."

The Promenade, which is between Long Beach Boulevard and Pine Avenue, is attracting more interest.

Construction has begun on The Olson Co.'s two-building project at The Promenade and Broadway. Within the project are 18 plans for 97 residential units that range from an 832-square-foot one-bedroom unit to a 2,441-square-foot loft. Some lofts will have space for residents who wish to operate street-front retail, and 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space for lease.

The project should be completed late next year or early 2007.

Lyon Realty Advisers Inc.'s three-structure project at Third Street and The Promenade is set to break ground in early 2006.

Developers say it will take a year to build the 104 loft-style apartments ranging from 724 to 1,255 square feet, as well as 12,000 feet of retail and a 390-stall parking garage. Rents have not been set.

Construction on Lennar Homes of California's project at Broadway and First Street is set to begin in 2006.

And the Promenade Condominiums will feature 62 townhomes ranging in size from 717 to 2,169 square feet and flats in a new 5-story building and 5,100 square feet of ground-floor retail.

"Everything should be totally done, I would say, by June 2008," Von Klug said.

That includes streetscaping grass, trees, flower beds and public art.

There will be outdoor dining on three blocks of The Promenade below the Insurance Exchange.

The Southern-style restaurant with a heavy Cajun influence is being overseen by executive chef Paul St. Bernard, formerly with King's Fish House on Pine Avenue. The menu will include one-pot jambalaya, gumbo, barbecue and shrimp. It will seat 85 on the inside and 80 on the patio.

Dinner entrees will run $25 and up, with lunch in the $12 to $18 range. They plan to have late-night dining on Fridays and Saturdays as late as 2 or 3 a.m., owners say.

The accompanying club, The Cellar, is modeled after a four-club chain in Texas that existed from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s.

"We're going to do a little bit of everything," said Vince Jordan, who managed the adjacent Blue Cafe from 1992 to 2003. "It's kind of blues joint meets swanky club."
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  #279  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2005, 10:17 PM
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Seven Short-Listed To Submit
Plans To Redevelop Downtown Areas



By Steve Irsay

Staff Writer

For now, call it the not-so-short list.

Of the 10 teams vying to redevelop several key downtown sites including City Hall East and the proposed Art Exchange, city officials have chosen seven developers to continue in the selection process, which is expected to stretch into early next year.

Members of this so-called short-list have been asked to submit additional information about their plans by this Friday to a selection committee made up of city officials and independent consultants, said Sherri Rossillo, the city development project manager.

Among those making the first cut are the Lee Group, which proposes building 314 residential units and retail space; Lennar Corporation, whose plan includes 1,186 residential units with ground-floor retail and commercial space; Toll Brothers, who propose spreading 1,200 housing units over three high-rise towers; Urban Pacific Builders LLC, whose plan includes 279 residential units and a possible art school; and Williams & Dame Development, which proposes 387 residential and live/work units.

All five plans also included some form of Art Exchange, a mixed-use enclave of retail, classrooms, studios and housing long-envisioned for the block bounded by Third Street, Elm Avenue, Broadway and Long Beach Boulevard. Many see the exchange as a possible hub for the adjacent East Village Arts District.

The other two short-listed developers, who did not present plans for the Art Exchange block, are Grand Prix Place LLC, whose plan calls for a new parking structure as well as 250 residential units, including converting City Hall East (100 Long Beach Blvd.) into lofts or a boutique hotel above a museum dedicated to the Long Beach Grand Prix; and Urban Growth Long Beach LLC, which proposes 462 residential units and retail space.

Regarding the choices for the short list, Rossillo said the committee looked for “the proposals that we feel would be the best match for what the city is looking for,” which includes “projects that offer diversity and multi-use projects.”

This first cut was made by a “technical selection committee” made up of representatives of the city departments of planning and building, financial management and community development, as well as two independent consultants, Rossillo said. The names of the committee members have not been released.

“The city just really wants to have fairness in the process,” Rossillo added. “We want to be able to review proposals in their entirety without any lobbying taking place from developers.”

The selection process is different from past projects in that the request for proposals covered both city-owned and RDA-owned sites. It was the first such joint RFP, she added.

Some RDA board members and city residents have criticized the selection process as secretive.

“At this point in time, I think the process is closed to the public and certainly closed to our board,” said Thomas Fields, RDA board chairman. “During my tenure on the RDA board, I have never seen a process like this play out.”

City Councilman Dan Baker, whose Second District includes all six redevelopment sites, said he was pleased with the selection process so far.

“It seems like the committee is made up of a group of people well-suited to make a decision and report to the council and board,” he said.

Baker called the entire redevelopment area “vitally important,” and said he was pleased that most plans thus far included an Art Exchange.

“If done right, it really is going to be the lynchpin to blending together downtown and the East Village,” he added.

Since the project covers a mix of city-owned and RDA-owned sites, it is unclear which body — the RDA board or City Council — will have ultimate say over the selection of the developer or developers, Rossillo said.

In addition to City Hall East, also known as the Edison Building, and the Art Exchange block, the six sites under consideration include the vacant American Hotel building on Broadway near Long Beach Boulevard, several parking lots and a number of small businesses including Acres of Books and Terry’s Camera.

Many people consider the area, which includes a Metro Blue Line station, an underperforming gateway between the convention and entertainment centers to the south, the Pine Avenue corridor to the west and the East Village Arts District to the east.
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Old Posted Oct 17, 2005, 10:26 PM
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LAMetroGuy LAMetroGuy is offline
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Here are the final 7 (for now):

• The Lee Group Inc.
Convert City Hall East to 81 for-sale housing units, and build 233 for-sale and rental units with a portion of the ground floor to be the Art Exchange. Includes specialty retail of 48,000 square feet, an Art Exchange area of 29,000 square feet.

• Lennar Communities
692 high-rise units, 488 podium homes, six townhomes, ground-floor retail, commercial and market/grocery store, and a 17,000-square-foot Art Exchange.

• Toll Brothers
200 podium units and 1,005 high-rise for-sale units.

• Griffin Realty Inc.
Convert City Hall East and develop Long Beach Grand Prix Museum, with a first-floor restaurant and meeting area, and eight floors of for-sale lofts or boutique hotel. Proposes a parking structure with 1,200 spaces, 4-story building built on top of parking structure, building with 180 for-sale units.

• Urban Pacific Builders LLC
Convert City Hall East and construct 72 loft/penthouse units and a potential art college, and build an additional 207 lofts/flats/townhomes including a 22,475-square-foot Art Exchange.

• Williams & Dame Development
360 for-sale units with lofts/condos, 27 live-work ground floor units, 24,200-square-foot indoor artist space and 25,000 square feet of public outdoor courtyard exhibition space with 14,600-square-foot ground floor retail/commercial.

• Urban Growth Long Beach LLC/The Related Companies
454 high-rise and for-sale lofts/condos, eight live-work lofts and ground floor office/retail.
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