Condo Tower Is Next Step in Long Beach Renewal
Long Beach, which has been transformed by massive office and retail development since its downtown renewal area was established in 1975, is now getting a major condominium project with the start of construction of Harborplace Tower.
The $78-million, 25-story tower at 530 E. Ocean Blvd. is the first new residential high-rise to be built in the redevelopment area, according to Michael V. Reyes, president of Urban Pacific Development Corp., the managing partner and co-developer with KOAR Inc.
Harborplace will contain 225 one- and two-bedroom units, priced from about $150,000 to about $750,000, Reyes said. Most of the units, which will range in size from 697 to 1,401 square feet--with five penthouses ranging from 1,825 to 3,070 square feet--will be in the $300,000-price range, he added.
The tower is expected to be completed in January, 1991, on a 1.59-acre site at the southeast corner of Ocean Boulevard and Linden Avenue, Reyes said. The building’s main entrance will be on Seaside Way, facing the Pacific Ocean.
“Harborplace Tower is designed to appeal to professional couples, empty-nesters and corporate executives,” Reyes said. “The track record of other downtown residential projects shows there is a market for upscale high-rise condominium units. . . .”
The Harborplace site is a block from the beach and the Long Beach Convention Center. It is also within a few blocks of the new Sheraton Hotel, Shoreline Square Office Tower, Ramada Renaissance Hotel, World Trade Center, Shoreline Village, Long Beach Plaza mall, the Rouse/Ratkovich Pike project and the Long Beach Marina--projects that are reshaping the city of 400,000 into a major office center.
Councilman Evan Anderson Braude said his multi-ethnic district of about 50,000 people needs more housing, both upscale developments like Harborplace Tower and more affordable ones.
“We have some of the wealthiest residents of Long Beach and some of the poorest in my district,” said Braude, a “distant relative” of Los Angeles Councilman Marvin Braude.
“I think we’ll see a lot more projects aimed at various economic levels in the next two to five years, drastically changing the downtown skyline. I like people living downtown; developments like Harborplace and similar ones that will be constructed will make downtown living more attractive to many more people.”
Urban Pacific, which specializes in urban residential projects in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana and Pomona, also developed Seapointe Apartments, the first new rental project in the redevelopment area.
Co-developer KOAR, headed by Sam Kaneko and Paul Alanis, is a real estate developer and also provides real estate investment advisory services to Japanese and other Asian investment groups.
Sought Upscale Condos
Long Beach Mayor Ernie Kell said the city is pleased to see Harborplace under construction. “We’ve been trying to get upscale condominiums in downtown to balance the more than $1.5 billion of nonresidential construction in the redevelopment area,” he said.
“To make a downtown redevelopment program work properly, you have to have a strong residential component. Otherwise, you’ll have a 9 a.m.-5 p.m. community, with empty streets at night.”
Susan Shick, director of the city Department of Community Development, said that Harborplace Tower is one of several residential projects planned for the redevelopment area.
Plans for High-Rise
She said the Mendik Co., a New York-based development firm, is planning to build a high-rise 550-unit condominium project a block away at Ocean Boulevard and Elm Avenue.
Harborplace Tower will combine a contemporary architectural concept with traditional arch forms, setbacks and curved edges to complement the new structures in the area and the “character-laden” older buildings, according to Bob Haley, president of Haley-Nishikawa Associates, Los Angeles, the architects.
The building’s exterior will feature white plaster, blue metal balcony railings and blue-tinted glass, Haley said. A 30-foot-wide promenade will traverse the Seaside Way boundary of Harborplace Tower and continue as a long pedestrian bridge over Linden Avenue to Crocker Plaza and other buildings.
The construction lender is Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank of California, and the general contractor is Sumitomo Construction America Inc., Long Beach, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Construction Ltd., Tokyo.
