A long-gestating apartment building finally gets underway in Long Beach, Calif.

Construction on Broadstone Promenade, a mixed-use project whose approval dates back to October 2018, finally got started in June, 19 months after the developer Alliance Residential Company acquired the project from Raintree-Evergreen LLC, its original entitler.

The project, which is being built on less than an acre in downtown Long Beach that once was a parking lot, is scheduled for completion in June 2023. The site is west of another, $215 million project Omni Group is building that will create more than 400 apartments between Long Beach’s 3rd Street and Broadway.

The eight-story Broadstone Promenade, with its U-shaped podium, will feature 189 one-, two-, and three-bedroom floor plans ranging from 545 go 1,289 sf, sitting atop 10,000 sf of ground-floor retail space. There will be three underground levels of parking with 268 car stalls and 40 bike stalls. The building’s amenities will include a fitness center, club room, pool, podium deck, and co-work space.

PART OF A VIBRANT AND EXPANDING NEIGHBORHOOD

The project—once called Inkwell—was designed by Long Beach, Calif.-based Studio T-Square 2, with its affiliate office in Oakland, Calif. “Our design inspiration recalls maritime references with a contemporary corner light house serving as the entry beacon,” says Henry Tong, AIA, the firm’s Principal. “The illuminated tower will draw visitors to The Promenade and energize the neighborhood. The retail at the base of the building undulates in reference to the waves of the nearby beach, while sawtooth bay windows provide visual interest and views toward the ocean.”

The Promenade is a six-block-long thoroughfare that is anchored on the north by City Place, a development that contains 450,000 sf of retail space and 341 apartment units; and the Long Beach Convention Center to the south, which attracts 1.5 million visitors per year. In between the two anchors are developments that comprise residential, retail, entertainment, restaurants, offices and hotels.

The mid-rise Broadstone Promenade is meant to “blend into the urban fabric and embrace the community,” says John Waldron, Studio T SQ2’s founding principal.