In Downtown Long Beach, Vancouver-based developer Onni Group has resumed work on the $215-million Broadway Block complex. 

watermark Aerial view of the Broadway Block site looking southeastHunter Kerhart Architectural Photography

An orange tower crane now stands above the project site, a two-acre property on the east side of Long Beach between Broadway and 3rd Street.  Plans call for the construction of two buildings containing 432 apartments, 23,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, and a two-level, 501-car subterranean parking garage.

IBI Group is designing the complex, which will include a seven-story podium-type building fronting Broadway and a 23-story, 252-foot-tall high-rise along 3rd Street.  The two buildings will frame a central courtyard - accessible through opening on Long Beach Boulevard and Broadway - as well as the rebuilt shell of the former Acres of Books Building, a historic landmark which will be repurposed as a 9,300-square-foot food hall.

Onni Group, which broke ground on the Broadway Block in late 2019, secured approvals last year from the City of Long Beach to expand the total number of apartments within the project by 32 units without requiring new parking.  This was achieved by splitting planned three- and four-bedroom units into smaller studio and one-bedroom apartments.

Aerial view looking eastIBI Group

The Broadway Block, as with another Onni Group development now taking shape in Hollywood, saw construction stall out near the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.  Work recently resumed for both mixed-use projects, which may be preludes to for future Onni Group developments in Downtown Los Angeles and Glendale.

While the new tower will rank among the tallest buildings in Long Beach, it is eclipsed by the height of the new Shoreline Gateway development - a 35-story tower now in the end stages of construction at Ocean Boulevard and Alamitos Avenue.

Onni's project also sits across Long Beach Boulevard from the City Place mall, which recently sold to a joint venture composed of New York-based Turnbridge Equities, Newport Beach-based Waterford Property Co. and Beverly Hills-based Monument Square Investment Group.  Future plans for the 14-acre complex have not been announced.

For a closer look at the Broadway Block project, view the gallery.

Acres of Books buildingIBI Group