After years of abandonment led to structural problems, a fire and vagrancy, demolition began on two Atlantic Avenue buildings in North Long Beach Wednesday.
Officials say the razing should be finished by the end of next month, eliminating two buildings that sit at 5641-5649 Atlantic Ave., with an empty lot between them. Shortly after, the land will be listed for sale as a single parcel.
At a ceremony held between the derelict buildings, Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk said this marks only one piece of a commercial revitalization she hopes to see in North Long Beach.
“This project is about investing right here in our own backyard, bringing new life to our streets and better services for our community, bringing in local businesses, and this transformation that we’re experiencing right here, it isn’t taking place alone,” Thrash-Ntuk said.
The councilmember, in the seventh month of her first term, also announced she would be establishing her district office a couple of doors down on the same street.
“I know my neighbors are excited that I’m going to be here in the neighborhood with them,” she said.
The ceremony marked a new chapter for the pair of city-owned buildings that have sat derelict and unattended for more than a decade. In that time, the facades attracted vandalism, homeless squatters and despoilment of its electrical lines and utilities. Through a gap in the chained fence, one building’s interior showed smashed windows and the remnants of a structure fire from a year prior.
The two sites were originally picked for a redevelopment project in 2017 that would have brought housing, retail, restaurants and gallery space. But plans folded due to an economic slowdown and “challenges with access to capital” brought on by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The result was a mix of embarrassment, frustration and skepticism by nearby residents and business advocates who are cautiously optimistic that the demolition will improve the neighborhood.
Tamaki Okamoto, co-president of the North Village Community Group, was quick to express her frustration with the office of the previous Councilmember Al Austin. She hopes the new representative will be more responsive to day-to-day fixes around the neighborhood.
“Use our group as more than just a symbol,” Okamoto said.
Pasha Darvishian, a developer and president of the Uptown Long Beach Business Improvement District, hopes these demolitions are the start of a cultural shift in Uptown’s business landscape.
“It’s time for this community to move past, not only these vacant buildings, but symbolically, to bring in new businesses, new residents, and hopefully a new mindset for North Long Beach, that people could shop here, people can do business here,” Darvishian said. “And (that) this is the start of something fresh.”
To avoid having another empty lot on the street — once a stretch of shopping centers — the city hopes to quickly find a developer who can build mixed-use buildings in its place.
In meeting with residents, the city’s economic development director, Bo Martinez, said people want “day and night” properties, which means having a range of businesses that, in tandem, offer amenities around the clock, from coffee shops to bars and restaurants on the ground floor and housing or office space above.
“We’re missing a lot of essential services,” Darvishian said. “If you want to grab a bagel, you’re not going to find one in North Long Beach. If you want to have breakfast in North Long Beach, it’s very limited.”
Residents, he said, “should be able to shop in this community, eat in this community, work in this community.”
Okamoto, who runs a tax consultancy from her home nearby, says she has to meet clients in a different neighborhood.
“I’m embarrassed,” she said. “There’s no coffee shop, there’s no bakery, there’s no sitting place.”
These buildings were one of several the city deemed unsafe to occupy and ordered to be razed this year, according to a Feb. 5 memo from Martinez to City Manager Tom Modica.
Buildings at 620 South St. and 1858 Atlantic Ave. were also demolished recently over safety concerns. The estimated total cost for all of these demolitions was $900,000, with the expectation to recoup that money once the sites are sold, Martinez said in March.