Renderings by Benoy, courtesy of The Queen Mary.
In a Facebook post normally reserved for showing details of the progress being made on the Queen Mary’s renovation, Urban Commons instead released new renderings for Queen Mary Island, the $250 million makeover being designed for the land next to the historic ocean liner.
“While we at Urban Commons understand that our number one priority is renovating the Queen Mary and restoring her to the ‘glory days’, we are also hard at work designing and preparing for Queen Mary Island, a 66-acre entertainment destination that will literally redefine the Long Beach skyline and social scene,” the announcement stated. “And while we’ve been using #FixItFriday to highlight the ship for the past several months, we also want our Queen Mary community to know that we plan on fixing the entire area as well.”
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The post was an announcement that—with the help of Urban Commons’ British counterpart, Urban Legacies—the bulk of the design for what will be the heart of Queen Mary Island has been completed, a new concept called Urban Adventures boasting 22 different sports and entertainment activities, including two rooftop surf pavilions, a zip line roller coaster, ice climbing and more.
The design of what will be a 150,000-square-foot facility has been in development in London over the past five years, according to the post, which featured CGI renderings created by leading architecture firm, Benoy.
Outside of Urban Adventures, plans for the rest of Queen Mary Island include a 7,000-seat amphitheater, 500,000 square feet of entertainment and retail, a revamped boardwalk, art installations and more designed to bring in millions of tourists a year.
Those who commented on the Facebook post voiced some skepticism that they’ll believe it when they see it, with some mentioning the never-realized DisneySea waterfront of the early 90s. A few commenters also lamented Urban Commons’ plans to bring more retail in, comparing the nearby Pike Outlets as more of an eyesore than a boon to the shoreline area. However, several others who posted their opinions were more than happy to envision a bright future for the ship.
Urban Commons encouraged those with improvement ideas and concerns about the ship and its surrounding property to send a note to the “Talk to the Developer” section here.