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9:00am | As word of who will be the development team for the new downtown county courthouse comes to local media we are faced with the reality of what is already being built. Across Magnolia Avenue from the two block site of the new state of the art public-privately development justice center is a new mixed-use apartment building. This nearly complete development by Lyons Apartments, the creator of the Promenade Lofts just four blocks to the east, will consist of three residential hundred units and fifteen thousand square feet of ground floor retail. Considering the trend of the local land-use patterns on the West End and the direction of planning in the downtown this new five-story development will be out of date before residents can occupy it.

This large block-wide mixed-use building was the parting shot of the West Gateway development plan. This joint development effort between the Long Beach Housing Development Company and the Redevelopment Agency was one of the last classic multi-block urban renewal plans, removing hundreds of existing residential units, thousands of square feet of commercial area and dozens of historically significant structures in the name of progress. As a response to the decades of similar urban renewal projects cities are now favoring more modestly sized interjections in existing contexts which allow for rejuvenation without clearing all previous character.

A great example of this comes from the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego where the Centre City Development Corporation (the downtown area redevelopment agency) initially attempted to enlist a single developer to transform the block of Kettner Boulevard at Beech Street. Instead a team of architect/developers created the Little Italy Neighborhood Program which broke the block into six building sites for new market-rate and affordable housing, live-work and commercial developments and included repurposing an existing commercial building. The architecture and urban design of this development set a tone for the entire neighborhood redevelopment, serving as a prototype for revitalization across the nation.

The city’s Development Services Department is currently updating the downtown’s zoning in part to emulate such incremental development patterns. The urban design component of the Downtown Community Plan commits to retaining the downtown’s courts and ways alley system by discouraging block-wide development. This keeps intact the finer grain circulation network while promoting building variety in the downtown. The latest draft of the downtown community plan also suggests varying architectural character to avoid the stylistic monotony that typically comes with block-wide development.

Gallery 421 as the new development is called, maintains a rigid architectural design with little variation whether facing existing residential development to the north on 3rd Street, a high-rise apartment and office building to the east on Chestnut Avenue, the Police Headquarters to the south on Broadway or the new courthouse to the west across Magnolia Avenue. There are few significant articulations of the building massing that could allude to a collection of buildings, but instead the building design represents a single droning complex.

“Authentic Architecture” was one of the twelve defining principles developed by the community during the initial downtown visioning process for the community plan. The aesthetic character of the development follows the merchant builder formulaic paste on application where the architectural detailing could have just as easily been Mission Revival or Art Deco. This sort of placeless, generic architecture is often located in new “urban” communities of Playa Vista or Irvine Spectrum, hardly appropriate for a genuine downtown environment.

All is not lost on this project, the developer’s commitment to the arts is evident by how its public art program is integrated into the overall structure. Drivers entering into the downtown from the Broadway off-ramp will be greeted by a well placed five-story tall mural representing aspects of Long Beach history. Though not entirely compelling the mural will likely be met by the public with favor for its renditions of the Villa Rivera, seals on the water and world famous Spruce Goose.

But another part of the public arts program is a partnership with the Long Beach Arts Council and Museum of Latin American Art to jointly curate the expansive lobby that doubles as an art gallery. The two-story volume will provide a great facility for the two cultural organizations to program with art locally and abroad. At the same time, this ground floor use will help activate this block of Broadway while being an attractive feature for residents. Hopefully such a successful collaboration could launch similar opportunities for other development in the future.

Understanding luxurious design of the individual apartment units and the diversity of available amenities for residents this development will likely be successful for Lyons. According to its website, the complex is “pet friendly” which is good for attracting pet-owners with limited options and is actually great for animating the street with life. The courtyard appears to be of an appropriate scale for residents without being too lavish as to discourage residents from venturing out of the complex. A good balance that not every new residential development achieves.

While Gallery 421 fits within the larger goal of bringing greater activity into the downtown with its ground floor retail and dense residential development it does not suit the immediate context of existing office and proposed civic uses. Nor does the project planning and design correspond to the nearly complete community plan for the downtown. By the time it is complete Gallery 421 will already be out of date.

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