In The News : 2006

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Condo complex planned

February 2, 2006
This article also appears on another site: Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California)

A high-powered development team that includes the brother of Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn offered the first public look Wednesday at plans to build the city's two tallest buildings, one soaring 55 stories.

The $1 billion sail-shaped development of three residential buildings would yield roughly 1,300 upscale condominiums on the parking lot behind the World Trade Center.

"We wanted to do something over the edge spectacular," said development team member George Medak, who has brought several large-scale projects to downtown. "We're looking for a 'Wow' factor here."

Molasky Pacific California LLC purchased a 5.6-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Broadway and Golden Avenue a parking lot used by the Hilton Long Beach Hotel and World Trade Center for $18 million in March 2005.

Molasky acknowledged the development proposal in May 2005, but Wednesday was the first time developers elaborated on those plans, including the possible widening of Broadway.

The high-powered Molasky team includes Kenneth Wynn, who has overseen development on several of brother Steve Wynn's Las Vegas casinos, and two developers of other high-profile residential projects on Ocean Camden at Harbor View developer Peter Cossavella and Medak, developer of Aqua.

Plans call for a seven-story building, along with towers of 45 stories and 55 stories standing at 500 feet and 600 feet respectively. Both towers would loom above the World Trade Center, the city's tallest building at 397 feet.

"It's the tallest residential project proposed in recent memory," said Suzanne Frick, director of Long Beach planning and building. "The city's vision is to increase heights and densities, particularly in that area."

The taller western tower would be curved like a wind-filled sail and have a stepped-up architecture rising on its outer portion to 35 stories. The shorter tower's outer portion would extend to 25 stories.

The project's shape and slender construction are purposefully reminiscent of sails, and the generous amount of glass and metal in the buildings would give them a shimmering effect resembling water, said Todd Pilgreen, the principal designer of the project and vice president of Venice-based Jerde Partnership.

Jerde designed some of Wynn's best known Las Vegas properties, including the Bellagio, Wynn and Fremont Street Experience, as well as Horton Plaza in San Diego and South Coast Plaza in Orange County.

"Long Beach is based around the water and sailing and shipping," Pilgreen said. "And the site itself is kind of the gateway into Long Beach."

A 3,500-space parking structure would be part of the smallest seven-story building, which would have two levels underground. The three buildings would be attached via a walkway, and the project would include 10,000 square feet of retail space.

"It's a vertical village," Pilgreen said.

The two towers would have gardens carved into their sides, providing visual architectural relief and functional gardens for residents. Plans call for between six and eight gardens total in both towers, about 30 feet wide of varying heights up to six stories tall. The project would also include a rooftop park.

Individual units would measure between 800 square feet and 1,400 square feet, with penthouses possibly up to 2,500 square feet. Estimated selling prices would start in the $700,000s.

Plans also call for the developer to widen Broadway, enabling more traffic from the Long Beach (710) Freeway.

The Molasky team is the same developer that in May proposed a 40-story tower what would have been the city's tallest building on Ocean Boulevard and Alamitos Avenue. The project was scrapped by Molasky following public opposition, particularly from neighbors across the street in the historic Villa Riviera condominiums.

Some of those same people formed a community activist group to scrutinize large-scale developments, and they are citing Medak's Aqua project as an example of a development whose architecture and setbacks are bad for the community.

"I would be concerned about the developer of the Aqua fiasco being responsible for another project," said Bill McKinnon, with www.savelbcskyline.org. "(Aqua) certainly is not an architectural monument to our city."

The developer of the 556-unit, twin-tower Aqua project Medak pushed the project through, but he is not considered its developer requested and received its fourth extension to the construction deadline in December, pushing the project's opening back to spring.

The project at Ocean Boulevard and Elm Avenue has been in the works in one form or another for more than 20 years, and has been beleaguered by setbacks, including a flooding incident in late April 2005, when a sprinkler head discharge caused roughly $2 million in water damage to the interior of the east tower.

McKinnon is also concerned that vehicular traffic brought in by the Molasky project and the widening of Broadway would further congest Pine Avenue and is not in keeping with plans to spruce up Broadway in the East Village Arts District about a mile away.

"The development is contradictory to the objective to reduce traffic on Broadway," he said.

Developers acknowledge potential drawbacks to the Molasky project: A traffic-impact study would be needed to gauge any traffic increase along Broadway, and the towers would cast a shadow over Chavez Elementary School at 730 W. Third St. during fall months for a few hours per day.

Developers plan to initiate an environmental impact report and begin soliciting public opinion in March, and hope to start construction by March 2007. Construction would take more than two years and cost roughly $800 million, developers said. Developers expect condo sales to total $1 billion.

The project would initially funnel more than $2 million per year to Long Beach's general fund coffers in property taxes alone, said Mike Killebrew, the city's finance director.

It would generate up to $2.7 million in fees that would go toward expanding or building new parks, add $1.5 million for traffic improvements, generate up to $5 million in planning permits, and $3.5 million for area schools, he said.

Bringing to downtown more affluent people will help raise the area's average income and make it more attractive to retailers, he said, adding, "The real benefit is having higher income residents."