TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to work with Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA) to identify methods and estimated costs for activating the section of Victory Park adjacent to the former Jergins Building Property, including but not limited to temporary pop-up retail, tourist, wayfinding, historical and arts-based installations; and
Request City Manager to also explore ideas and estimated costs of activating the parking lot at Seaside Way and Pine Avenue
(100 East Ocean Boulevard) with DLBA.
DISCUSSION
The intersection of Pine Avenue and Ocean Boulevard plays an important role in the Downtown core, serving as the linchpin between upper and lower Pine Avenue. It is the convergence point for Long Beach's unofficial main street and its most well known scenic drive. Unfortunately, the steep slope and lack of development or activity on the southeast side of the intersection has created a visual and psychological barrier to conventioneers, tourists and workers. Sheer walls of the building bordering the south west side of Pine Avenue compound this condition
As with the rest of Ocean Boulevard in Downtown, park space occupies the southeast corner of this intersection. However, this portion of Victory Park has been behind a wall with painted murals for several years; its dilapidated concrete surface and weed-covered turf areas faintly resembling its stately past as the arched entryway to the Markwell Building, later known as the Jergins Trust Building.
Late last summer, the city-owned parking lot at Seaside Way & Pine Ave, along with this portion of Victory Park, were among the topics of discussion at an Urban Land Institute (ULI) Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) commissioned by the Downtown Long Beach Associates. The purpose of the TAP, "to conduct a study of criteria and recommendations that could guide the improvement of connections between the Downtown core and the waterfront, generally considered to be the area located south of Ocean Boulevard...
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