Long Beach has begun demolishing vacant buildings on three city-owned properties — one near Poly High School and two in North Long Beach.
Buildings on two of the sites were deemed unsafe to occupy, while an assessment of the third found it could be “more efficiently developed” by starting from the ground up, Director of Economic Development Bo Martinez wrote in a Feb. 5 memo to City Manager Tom Modica.
The three locations are:
- 1858 Atlantic Ave. (just north of PCH), which includes a 4,800-square-foot building with a side yard and parking lot
- A 29,375-square-foot property at Lime Avenue and South Street that includes a large vacant lot and a multi-tenant commercial building
- Three adjacent parcels at 5641-5649 Atlantic Avenue (just below South Street), which include two commercial buildings with an empty lot between them
All three sites have been offered up for affordable housing projects, a requirement of the state Surplus Land Act before the city can move to sell them to other bidders. In the meantime, break-ins, vandalism and fires have plagued two of the properties, leading to the city’s decision to demolish the existing buildings, Martinez wrote.
The site at 1858 Atlantic was originally used as a recycling education center but was then purchased by the city and leased to a company looking to set up a workforce development center. When rising labor and construction costs made the project cost-prohibitive, the lease was terminated.
A second-alarm fire last July damaged the structure beyond repair, causing it to be deemed unsafe to occupy.
The other two sites were meant to be part of a major redevelopment project dubbed the North Village Redevelopment Plan, which was supposed to include housing, retail, restaurants and gallery space. LAB Inc., which previously built the LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa and the Anaheim Packing District, attempted to develop both the Long Beach parcels, but “delays and challenges hampered any significant progress,” Martinez wrote.
“Despite continued efforts to bring the North Village Development concept to fruition, completion was not imminent, and ownership of the property was returned to the City,” Martinez wrote.
The site on South Street was also deemed unsafe to occupy after repeated break-ins and fires caused structural damage to the roof.
Tenants occupied two commercial buildings on the third city-owned property on Atlantic Avenue between South and East 56th streets until last December.
After both moved out, an assessment of the buildings and the size of each parcel determined that “the site could be more efficiently developed if it were prepared for ground-up construction,” Martinez wrote.
The demolitions will be staggered with work already underway at 1858 Atlantic Ave., followed by the South Street/Lime Avenue property, according to Martinez.
The estimated total cost for demolition was $900,000, with the expectation to recoup that money once the sites are sold, Martinez wrote.