Major Mall Redevelopment In Long Beach Aims For 2024 Groundbreaking
A redevelopment of a large chunk of the CityPlace mall in Long Beach will add 900 housing units and new commercial space, and work on the major redevelopment might begin as soon as next year.
Long Beach City Council members voted unanimously to deny an appeal of the project, now called Mosaic, and to grant its approval in late April, Urbanize reported. With this approval in hand, the development team of Waterford Property Co., Turnbridge Equities and Monument Square Investment Group is planning a 2024 groundbreaking, Waterford co-founder and Head of Development and Acquisitions Sean Rawson said.
"I am excited about all of the work that has been accomplished in reimagining Mosaic," Rawson said in a statement to Bisnow. "This new vision for downtown Long Beach will be a catalyst for even greater potential that will only enhance this neighborhood in the long term."
The redevelopment will affect a large part, but not all, of the mall, demolishing 200K SF of existing commercial uses, according to documents submitted to the city. Three eight-story apartment buildings will rise in place of those razed properties. Together, they will hold 900 units of new residential, including 54 units available to very-low-income tenants, provided in accordance with the city's inclusionary housing ordinance.
The Mosaic project will also create over 38K SF of new retail space along the ground floors of the new buildings and in a small standalone retail building. The project site is between Fourth and Sixth streets, east of Long Beach Boulevard.
The appeal was submitted by the Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development Los Angeles, or CREED LA, a nonprofit coalition of labor unions. CREED claimed the project's impacts weren't sufficiently studied by the environmental impact report.
"This location has been inactive for over five years and we really, as residents who live adjacent to that location, we’ve been desperate for something to come into that area to revive that part of downtown and from what I’m seeing, this project will do exactly that,” Long Beach City Council Member Mary Zendejas said at the council meeting where the project was approved, according to the Long Beach Signal Tribune.
"We look forward to building a great community in downtown Long Beach and bringing much needed residential units," Turnbridge Equities Managing Director Michael Grazzano told Bisnow in an emailed statement.
