24-story Long Beach office tower to become housing

[quaint]

LA URBANIZE

In decades past, developer Izek Shomof converted numerous landmark buildings in Downtown Los Angeles into housing. Now, he's set his sights on a different on the center of the region's second large city some 20 miles south.

Months after shelling out $50 million to acquire a 24-story office tower at 111 W. Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, Shomof has filed an application with the Long Beach Planning Bureau seeking authorization to convert the building into housing. The existing building, which accounts fmor more than 480,000 square feet of floor area, would be converted into 391 residential units, according toa filing made late last year.

While adaptive reuse has not made quite as great an impact in Downtown Long Beach as in Downtown Los Angeles, historic buildings along the Ocean Boulevard corridor have increasingly been converted to new uses in recent years.

Long Beach is very progressive.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

1. Prime real estate

[OC375]

2. Well Done!

Some folks replace perfectly couches when they redecorate rooms, and discard clothes when they go out of style. We need more renewal than replacement when it comes to "things" in general.

[Auggie]

3. Neat. But not easy to do. And costly.

I bet lower floor units will be designated "affordable" to satisfy local ordinances. The upper floors will be market price. And designed to attract those with deep pockets.

[quaint]

4. I really, really, wanted you to be mistaken, however, the last paragraph...

This is AI generated because frustrated, I climbed out of the rabbit hole without any specifics.

Based on available information regarding the Shomof Group’s development portfolio, there is not a single, specific percentage defined for "low-income" across all of their office-to-housing conversions in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Instead, the Shomof Group's approach combines market-rate adaptive reuse with separate acquisitions of low-income and supportive housing.

Historic Core Conversions: Izek Shomof pioneered the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, transforming historic downtown LA office buildings (e.g., in the Historic Core) into "live-work" lofts, which are generally market-rate, boutique, or creative residential spaces.

Low-Income Portfolio: Simultaneously, the group has acquired and renovated existing, non-office buildings (such as the Baltimore/Leland Hotel and King Edward Hotel) specifically for low-income, affordable, and supportive housing.

Recent Activity: The group has continued to acquire large office towers in Southern California, such as 101 North Brand in Glendale and Landmark Square in Long Beach, for mixed-use redevelopment.

While they are heavily involved in the low-income sector, the office-to-residential conversions are often treated as market-rate, high-end, or creative spaces rather than dedicated low-income, making a single percentage for "low-income conversions" inapplicable.

[Auggie]

5. What's the incentive if the ROI underperforms ...

compared to stocks, REITs, bitcoin, etc.? No one makes real money on affordable housing. It's a way to streamline plans and permits by placating local politicians and populations.

However, a little affordable housing -- and creative spaces -- are better than none. Especially in California.

[Frasier Balzov]

6. Vintage 1991 building should be quake tolerant.

Long Beach was the center of a famous 1933 earthquake.

[quaint]

7. Kinda, maybe. The 1994 Northridge quake deaths spurred tougher regulations.