UPDATE: City Place Revamp Camp Reveals New Renderings
By Brian Addison @BrianAddisonLB · On December 14, 2015For updated renderings of the proposed project, scroll through the gallery above.
City Place is getting a facelift.
Actually, more than a facelift. It’s getting, in the words of owners’ representative Tony Shooshani, a “repurposing and repositioning of City Place Long Beach set to begin immediately. The nearly 4-year, 3-phase, multi-million dollar project will transform Downtown Long Beach, as designed by [Long Beach firm] Studio One Eleven.”
“Having a hundred architects wandering around the Downtown core is only going to be good for Downtown.”
This news is incredible for two reasons.
One, City Place has reputation issues that, in all fairness, are somewhat narrow-scoped and misguided. Its Walmart is the city’s single largest source for calls-for-service from the LBPD, a point that the public seems all too singularly focused on. (There are, FYI, over thirty other businesses in the property that are sadly overshadowed by the corporate giant’s local reputation—something that frankly isn’t fair to City Place or those business owners.)
Secondly, Studio One Eleven and its parent Perkowitz + Ruth will not only be heading the re-design of the space (scroll above for renderings) but move their offices from the tower at 111 Ocean to the space formerly occupied by Nordstrom Rack. These are the masterminds behind the lauded Senior Arts Colony. The brilliant Signal Hill affordable housing complex. The gorgeous Children Today facility. The parklets at Berlin, Lola’s and At Last Cafe. That beautiful, coastline gem that is the Bluff Hotel—oh wait, never mind: greedy and inept labor unionists shot that beautiful project down in the name of self-interest.
To put it bluntly, Studio One Eleven and its architects are urban design badasses.
The project’s boldness lies not necessarily in its architecture (and hopeful future tenants) but in its layout. North Promenade takes a few complete street cues and becomes pseudo-car-friendly. That is, bollards in place to prevent traffic but, should an event desire some food trucks, accessibility.
Even more key is the project’s willingness to connect to the stretch of Promenade to the south. According to a press release from City Place, “Harvey Milk Park will also play a great role in the new district. The project will build on the existing foundation and make it better by integrating into the adjacent downtown, and eventually repurpose the eight-block area into a vibrant mixed-use district featuring a hub of unique restaurants, businesses and retail for all the residents of Long Beach to enjoy.” Talks of Studio One Eleven possibly pushing back the public sidewalk space on Third even further in could also make the space not just great but spectacular.
Even the loading docks that parallel Long Beach Blvd. will be revamped with living walls and art.
As a way to get the community involved, City Place has asked the public to rename the joint.
Brian Addison
Writer. Photographer. Thinker. Eater. Long Beacher. Bourbon-er. Don't be afraid to strike up dialogue, especially away from the comment threads and over a beer.
17 Comments
Does this mean the Wal-Mart is going to go away? None of the articles mention what will happen to it. Unless Wal-Mart will be part of this revamp
You should give City Place some credit. It rose from the corpse of an enclosed superblock mall that completely turned its back on the surrounding streets. It’s a mixed-use project that uses land efficiently for parking and forces drivers to pay to park long term. It’s true that it has a lot of vacant space, especially along Pine, but I think if you put it in historical perspective it’s a big step forward for DTLB. Any attempt to improve it should build on what’s positive about it.
Unless the Wal Mart is closed, this is a waste of time/money. I stopped going downtown when Albertsons closed, and gave up my cheap Gold’s Gym membership because the area is filled with homeless, addicts, beggars and obnoxious illegals.The parking structure (run by the city) is a joke. When the mall was there it was free parking-just drive in and park. The system with the tickets mean you wait and wait because some poor simpleton ahead of you can not figure out what to do with the ticket and no attendant is in sight. I want to shop where I can drive in, park with no hassle, shop without being hit up for change by welfare recipients and watch the cops pull out some maniac from Wal Mart threatening to kill everyone. Everything they do in Downtown LB makes no sense, probably because all the politicians are bought and handsomely paid for. The city had to have the land the great Acres of Books (a true, good reason to go downtown) was sitting on, and did nothing with it…….Pine Ave is dead, and people don’t feel safe at City Place or anywhere Downtown. It’s ghetto, and the entire city knows it and that’s why no one wants to go there. IT IS A HASSLE TO GO THERE. NOBODY WANTS TO PAY FOR PARKING, pull out the street meters. There is no reason to ever go there when there are 5 other really nice hassle free options in near by cities. In 7-10 years we will be reading about another attempt to get people to shop Downtown, but it AIN’T going to happen. It’s a place to score dope, for society’s misfits to hang out and the homeless to sleep. End of rant.
‘I want to shop where I can drive in, park with no hassle, shop without being hit up [by people I judge].’ That place of wonder exists for you, friend. It’s called Irvine. Go for it!
@Brian Addison
You are wrong. I’ll list the cities for you that actually provide free parking and marvelous shopping opportunities for it’s customers…..Cerritos, Lakewood, Seal Beach, Westminster, Huntington Beach, etc., etc.. Long Beach’s political structure is based on nothing more than a money grab from residents. No one travels to Long Beach to shop, but people do travel to surrounding cities to shop. Hummm, I wonder why. Well, I’ll answer that myself — Long Beach panders to the poor. It encourages low income, extremely poor, and the homeless to live here. What’s the outcome of that? A disgusting, filthy, third world country environment. Who wants to shop in an environment where chances are you’re car will be broken into, it costs a fortune to park, you’ll step in a puddle of human urine on the sidewalk, and some drugged up homeless freak is pooping in the parking structure. Oh, these are just MY experiences. I’m sure that other folks have some equally as lovely stories.
Brian, I see your Long Beach ass kissing posts all over the Internet. You must either work for the city, own a business in long beach, or moved here from somewhere like Iowa and think that you’re in heaven. Open your eyes, dude. Most of Long Beach is a dump filled with illegal aliens, gang members, social misfits, and human fecal matter from the citie’s ever adored homeless population of thugs.
No one shops in downtown Long Beach except the illegals that Long Beach I’d so in love with. It’s pathetic.
By the way, what’s wrong with Irvine?? Do you have a problem with people who work for a living, live in beautiful homes, and don’t urinate in public? You’re just a social elitist. Some people actually want to raise their children in an environment where they won’t be killed by a drive by…..is that a problem? I don’t think so.
It’s not a problem if that’s what you believe. I have no issues with Irvine nor do I work for the city, own a business here, or moved from Iowa (California native here). My point is quite simple: if this place is so horrific for you, move. I love my city and I entirely disagree with your perception and rhetoric. I am miffed and bemused by people who bash on where they live when there is a simple solution: move to a place that accommodates your perspective, lifestyle and philosophy more. Wherever you go, you do you, amiga.
I live in Long Beach by Cal State and I am not going to move, but I will not support shopping in an area that is unsafe and filled with people that I find undesirable. Nobody “bashed” on anyone or anything like that. I just told it like it is, whether it is what you want to hear, don’t want to hear or is not politically correct to you. If my views on this are wrong, explain why people who live in this city refuse to shop Downtown (it’s floundering) or even go Downtown unless they absolutely are forced to. No parking, thugs, homeless, frequent police action and crappy stores are reason enough for most of the city to stay away. Enjoy all the marvelous sights, sounds and shopping in Downtown. I will not spend one dime there Buddy.
“I want to shop where I can drive in, park with no hassle, shop without being hit up for change by welfare recipients…”
What’s the proper word to describe contempt for welfare while screaming “GIMME MY FREE PARKING” ? Irony? Cognitive dissonance? Hypocrisy?
Yeah Whatever, but in case you haven’t heard parking is free at most all the leading shopping centers except those in LA proper. I won’t try and insult you like you did me (just because you disagree with my views, which are valid, just like yours), but you keep shopping at all the great stores in Downtown LB (and please say Hi to your friends at Wal Mart for me!) and I will make a conscious effort to shop at Marina Pacifica and Orange County…………….
We do, but thanks for your encourgement LOL!…….Marina Pacifica, Los Altos, Los Alamitos, South Coast Plaza & Westminster.Btw I Skip Second St too because of parking issues………..
I agree with Doug. I spent three years as a kiosk owner in front of Walmart. I was mistreated by the property owner for complaining about safety issues. I was stabbed by a homeless guy while working. Dealt with meth addicts and was treated like I was the problem. I am still dealing with them In court as we speak. The tried raising my rent to get me to shut up about thier fraudulent contracts and leave. Recently a security guard was stabbed while making a stop at Walmart. The owner cares little about his Tennant’s it took 12 years to get them to post No Loitering signs. The reason they have no tenants ia because they inflate the rent to get a huge tax break. The police have no love for the property owner.
Get rid of the Walmart store. It is a disease that has infected the entire area around it. Not only is it a symbol of corporate greed but it forces it’s employees to live in poverty putting further stress on an already overburdened welfare system. They give little to nothing back to the communities they rape and pillage and drive down property value. There is nothing good that can come from the continued existence of one of Downtown Long Beaches’ biggest problems. It’s sole purpose is to proffit the corporate office and impede progress.
WHERE’S MY COMMENT?
Does anybody else just think these designs are ugly? Wayyy to much going on – could use a few unifying elements rather than bright, unrelated colors and textures everywhere!
Let put my two cents on this . I’am a hairdresser .
I dig the idea. I’am the outsider here with the misfits ….but I’ll till you one thing gay people like myself upgrade this town. I like to dress up and look good for myself.I like nice thing’s. And hopefully one day open my hair salon here in LB . I never gotten rob. And no one ever giving me hassles . stop complaining and get to it. Its up to you to make a great day. Fernando .
I agree with @Chewie above. Each step forward is a step in the right direction, even if you don’t get it 100% right and please 100% of the people — because you can’t.
To the others in this thread complaining about downtown Long Beach being a bad place, have you actually had a bad experience there? Or are you just reacting to the fact that it doesn’t look like some place in Orange County or LA proper? On my part, I lived a few blocks from City Place for awhile after having lived in Orange County for a few years so I understand the culture shock you may be experiencing. I had similar feelings at first, but honestly, once you get past not being in a whitewashed, cookie-cutter, soulless suburb — it’s actually quite nice walking around DTLB! In the 2 year span I was there, I never had an actual bad experience outside of normal encounters that you would have in any city in the country.
[…] at the southern foot of The Streets DTLB—the massive development formerly known as City Place and undergoing one of the largest revamps in the city—the crosswalk is charming, smart, and unlike many of its counterparts, refreshingly […]