Urban Commons, LLC, the real estate and investment firm tasked with renovating the interior of The Queen Mary as the successor lessee to the Garrison Investment Group, will unveil its plan for the great ship tomorrow onboard her majesty herself.
The firm will release the proposed $15 million renovation drawings by architecture firm Gensler, along with a speech by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, the firm announced this week.
Urban Commons, LLC was named the successor lessee to the historic landmark, which has had a rocky history with ownership of late, last November.
Garrison took over operations of the ship when Save the Queen, LLC defaulted and was bought out by Garrison. Since then, the group has made nearly $13 million in capital investments to the ship, including renovations to the restaurants on board and aesthetic improvements to the paint and decks of The Queen.
At the time, Garcia said the new lease represented a chance to build something “spectactular” for a part of downtown that has remained dormant and often empty.
“When you think about the value that that ship has you can’t really put a price on the cultural icon that it really is,” Garcia said. “To finally get to a point where we’re going to look at the land surrounding the ship and develop it in a way that’s appropriate, that’s community oriented, that maximizes the space but also brings more people into the ship while reinvesting back into the ship and to the dome is critical.”