Long Beach’s historic Ocean Center Building is getting a new neighbor. As Twitter user @esotouric documents, work has begun on a seven-story, 216-unit residential development called OceanAire.
The Togawa Smith Martin-designed project is rising on the site of an Ocean Avenue parking lot and promises to offer future residents some very nice views and convenient access to both public transit and the beach. According to the architects, the upscale apartments will be catered to young professionals and will feature amenities like a pool, sun deck, fitness room/yoga studio, and the increasingly obligatory dog spa.
Longbeachize reports that construction on the new building is expected to last 20 months.
Magnificent relic of the Pike amusement zone, Long Beach. Hope its new neighbor isn't TOO hideous. #mydayinla #thisplacematters pic.twitter.com/XY1ahT1idW
— Esotouric's Lost LA (@esotouric) November 2, 2016
Meanwhile, an elegant Mediterranean revival building next door is still awaiting a long-overdue restoration. Last year, plans were revealed for a potential adaptive-reuse project that would add up to 84 units of housing, replacing upper level office space.
Constructed in 1929, the Ocean Center Building was designed by Raymond M. Kennedy—best remembered today as the architect behind Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Once part of the city’s Pike Amusement Zone and its famous "Walk of a Thousand Lights," the structure is now the only surviving remnant of that long-lost seaside attraction.