Long Beach Construction (Planned, Proposed, & Current)

[LAMetroGuy]

Council to weigh use of key waterfront site

$195,000 study on developing lot east of Arena on agenda.

By Jason Gewirtz
Staff writer

LONG BEACH � The city could move closer tonight to determining what, if anything, to build on downtown's last major piece of developable waterfront land.

The City Council tonight will consider a $195,000 consulting study to determine how to develop a giant parking lot east of the Long Beach Arena into something that would attract tourists and visitors to the city.

If approved, the review would take nine months to complete. At the end, the Los Angeles-based consultant, Gruen Associates, would recommend the best possible use of the 2,000-space parking lot.

City officials say the timing is right to figure out what to do with the city-owned, formerly submerged property. With construction continuing on the nearby Pike at Rainbow Harbor complex, the arena parking lot is the final parcel of developable land along the city's downtown waterfront.

"It's pretty much our last opportunity to fill in the pieces of the puzzle," said Amy Bodek, the city's Project Development Bureau manager.

Ideas for the land have come and gone in the past.

Most recently, a developer proposed a 46-story Tower of Toscana at the site to rival Seattle's Space Needle. The project has since been abandoned, city officials said.

The city has also heard from others interested in a permanent aquatics center, coming off the success of the summer's Aquatics Festival. The event featured a 10,000-seat temporary grandstand and pool built on the parking lot to host the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials and other water sports events.

Other potential projects could include an expansion of the nearby Long Beach Convention Center, arena or Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Or, Bodek said, "The study could come back and say don't do anything, leave it as a parking lot."

If the council agrees to fund the study, the consultant would hold meetings with stakeholder groups before issuing a recommendation, Bodek said. Those groups are expected to include the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the convention center, the Hyatt, the Grand Prix of Long Beach Association, the Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Village, the Pike and nearby residents, including those on Ocean Boulevard.

Among the challenges any developer faces is how to accommodate the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which uses the parking lot as a staging area for the city's premier special event. The course also winds its way through the site.

Race officials said Monday it was too soon to comment as nothing has been proposed for the area.

"It's fair to say nothing at this point because we don't really know what's going to come out of this," said Chris Esslinger, spokesman for the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach.

David Gordon, general manager of the convention center, expressed similar thoughts.

"We want to wait and see," he said.

Any development proposal would likely include a new parking configuration to make up for lost parking space, Bodek said. But there is also no guarantee any recommended project would be built soon, if at all.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to set forth a vision for that area," Bodek said. "Whether that vision is enacted in three years or 10 years is really not the issue."