Recently, the Downtown Long Beach Associates released its annual Economic Profile, which provides a comprehensive overview of the Downtown’s economic landscape. The profile serves as a resource to measure progress and development from year to year and chronicles the Downtown’s changing retail, housing and population demographics.
According to the report, the average resident in Downtown today is a young, educated professional with higher than average earning potential–a new trend that has only emerged over the last decade along with the area’s growing population.
“The Downtown residential demographics are trending positively, which leads to an increased demand for residential properties, restaurants, retail and services,” said Kraig Kojian, President & CEO of the DLBA. “Much of the recent resurgence of neighborhoods like the East Village and Pine Avenue can be attributed to the increase in the changing residential population.”
As a result of this trend, the DLBA has been successful in attracting regionally recognized operators for dining and entertainment venues—including Cohn Restaurant Group from San Diego, The Federal Bar and Restaurant from North Hollywood and The Stave from Downtown Los Angeles–using psychographic data to demonstrate such demand for the growing urban center.
Additionally, the report highlights major development projects entitled in Downtown, which are slated to deliver up to 1,681 additional residential units, 740,000 square feet of office space, 400 hotel rooms, 56,370 square feet of retail space, 31 courtrooms, and more than half a million square feet of civic space in the coming years. The Downtown Plan, approved in January 2012, plays no less than a significant role in the fast-tracking of these major developments, leading to project completion and job creation as quickly as possible.
“Recently, Long Beach has been named as one of the most business friendly cities in Los Angeles County both by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation and the Los Angeles Business Federation,” said Kojian, citing the City’s incentivized development plans as a reason for the award. “The City’s Development Services Department, led by its director, Amy Bodek, deserve recognition for their notable reforms and practices. We regularly receive testimony from regional businesses new to the Downtown who are grateful to work with such a streamlined and transparent process.”
The 2013 Downtown Economic Profile also outlines other positive trends for the area including the already high but still increasing employment density and increasing number of office space rentals, the latter of which has lead to an 84% occupancy rate, indicating a faster recovery from the recession than other competing markets.
With the completion this year of the entire Promenade project as well as developments that seek to reinvigorate North Pine, great things have already happened to continue to transform the jewel of the city. And now, the City’s financial and cultural center is even more prepared to maintain the momentum that makes Downtown Long Beach a driving force in Southern California.