Long Beach : 3rd Street Project Favored

The city’s Redevelopment Agency has given conceptual approval to a plan by Southwest Securities to build movie theaters, a parking structure and 132,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on the downtown block across 3rd Street from Long Beach Plaza Mall.

That means that the agency’s board likes the idea, but must fulfill its legal obligation to advertise for bids from people who own property on the block bounded by Broadway, Long Beach Boulevard, 3rd Street and the Promenade.

Contacting the owners will take 30 to 60 days, said Roger C. Anderman, the Redevelopment Agency’s assistant executive director. After that, the agency may seek bids from other developers, he said.

Southwest Securities Vice President Julie Thompson estimated that the project will take four years to complete, and cost $15 million to $20 million. Plans call for a multi-screen movie theater that would front on Third Street, 30,000 square feet of retail shops, 102,000 square feet of commercial businesses, and, at the center of the block, a five- or six-story parking structure.

Two multistory buildings--the Insurance Exchange and the Andrus Building--would be left standing under the plan by Southwest Securities partners John Packard and Claire Seipp.