Council members on Tuesday declared a stretch of city-owned land in North Long Beach to be surplus property as they seek developers or buyers to revitalize the blighted area near Michelle Obama Library.
A long-planned remake of the Atlantic Avenue corridor called The Beat is no longer happening after the developer, LAB Holding, returned the land to the city last year. The much-celebrated North Village Redevelopment Plan included housing, retail, a brewery, music venues and more.
The properties were sold in 2016 at a discount of $7 million, with the provision that if the development didn’t happen, the land would be returned.
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City officials said last year that the pandemic and other factors played a role in the demise of the project.
An 84-unit townhome project in a vacant lot across from the library, however, is still moving forward, officials said.
But the properties at 620 South St. and 5705-5723 Lime Ave. — which includes almost 30,000 square feet of land and a multi-unit commercial building — will now be offered up for the specific purpose of affordable housing, which is required by state law. If no developers express interest or negotiations are not successful, the city can then sell the land.
Councilmembers Al Austin and Joni Ricks-Oddie, both of whom represent the area in question, said they were eager to see movement on a new project.
“Hopefully we can get some activity moving quickly,” Austin said. “We can’t do this quick enough.”