City officials plan to announce that international music-themed hotel brand Hard Rock is coming to Downtown Long Beach, according to multiple people briefed on plans for an event scheduled next week.
The invite-only event is set for 3:30 p.m. Monday in an outdoor plaza near Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue, where Mayor Rex Richardson will be revealing a “major project” that will “change how Long Beach looks and how the world looks at Long Beach,” according to an invitation sent out by the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Three sources, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the event, said the announcement will include a Hard Rock–branded hotel.
The event is taking place next to the site of a long-planned hotel project at 100 E. Ocean Blvd. — the former Jergins Trust Building location and the only active hotel development in Long Beach.
The developer, Gregory L. Steinhauer of Washington-based Steinhauer Properties, would not confirm or deny if the hotel would be branded as a Hard Rock Hotel when asked Wednesday. Hard Rock Hotel representatives did not respond to an email sent Wednesday morning.
A hotel at the prominent Ocean Boulevard intersection has been in the works for nearly a decade. The proposal submitted to the city calls for a building at least 30 stories tall, with around 429 rooms, 25,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space, and 15,000 square feet of restaurant and rooftop deck areas.
Bo Martinez, director of the city’s Economic Development Department, in September confirmed to the Post the project was still moving forward. A timeline for construction wasn’t immediately clear.
A Hard Rock Hotel is also listed in a city document of planned developments across Long Beach provided to the Post in August. The document offered no details on the proposal other than the fact that it was “conceptual,” and added to the list at the request of Richardson’s office.
Richardson on Wednesday said he would love to have a Hard Rock Hotel in the city but declined to discuss or confirm the project. However, he has recently spoken enthusiastically about getting Long Beach back to its musical roots.
“We look forward to engaging in this conversation to bring music culture back to Long Beach,” Richardson said during a recent economic forum, noting that the city is looking into constructing a waterfront amphitheater near the Queen Mary.
“Back in the day, the Arena would have Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, The Who — all those people performed in Long Beach,” Richardson continued. “But T. Swift and Beyoncé aren’t coming unless we invest in the venues to make that happen.”
Jason Ruiz contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the developer.