Long Beach : Wrather Plan Scrutinized

The Port of Long Beach is soliciting comments on a Wrather Corp. plan that would add a 350-room hotel to the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose site by 1988 and dozens of specialty shops, four office buildings and a large exhibit hall within 15 years.

Port officials, who are working on an environmental impact report for the project, are asking for comments “so we can evaluate impact we may not have already considered,” said planner Joe Chesler, project manager.

A hearing on a completed report will probably be held in June, with a final Harbor Commission vote in September, Chesler said.

The Wrather project, endorsed in concept by the Harbor Commission last March, probably would cost several hundred million dollars and build out the 55-acre site, company officials have said. Most of the new construction would be on what are now parking lots.

A 17-story hotel would be connected to the Queen Mary, nearly doubling the attraction’s 400-room hotel capacity.

The plan also calls for 900,000 square feet of office space in four commercial buildings, one a 27-story tower. A variety of specialty shops, restaurants and entertainment centers would add 280,000 square feet, and a 30,000-square-foot exhibition hall would replace Londontowne shops.

Employment on the site, now about 1,000, would jump by 4,460 jobs, planners estimate.

A preliminary study indicates the project would have a significant adverse impact on traffic and air quality while producing additional sales and property taxes and jobs, Chesler said.

For more information, call Chesler at (213) 590-4158.