Six months after our last check-in, the orange tower crane is gone and glass almost fully encompasses the concrete superstructure of Long Beach's new tallest building. 

watermark Aerial view of Shoreline Gateway looking northeastHunter Kerhart Architectural Photography

Shoreline Gateway, a project built by a joint venture between Ledcor Properties, Anderson Pacific, LLC, Qualico, and Lantower Residential, stands at the northwest corner of Ocean Boulevard and Alamitos Avenue, where it replaced a surface parking lot.  The 35-story tower will include 315 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments above 6,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a subterranean parking garage.

Designed by Studio One Eleven, Carrier Johnson + Culture, and Relm, the slender tower stands approximately 417 feet tall at its apex, narrowly edging out the World Trade Center for the title of Long Beach's tallest building.  The structure is lined with a series of inset and cantilevered balconies, culminating in a rooftop deck.  A second amenity deck is planned atop a podium structure facing the northern property line.

Following roughly two-and-a-half years of construction, completion of Shoreline Gateway is on pace to occur near the end of 2021.

watermark View of rooftop deck looking southwestHunter Kerhart Architectural Photography

According to a promotional website, the original plan for Shoreline Gateway dates to 2004, when the project was conceived under the now defunct Long Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.  Shoreline Gateway is the second phase of a two-part development which began with the construction of the 17-story Current apartment tower on an adjacent site to the west.  The two buildings will share a 10,000-square-foot landscaped plaza, located on a vacated segment of Lime Avenue running between the two structures.

Although Shoreline Gateway only recently claimed the title of Long Beach's tallest building, its reign as the high point on the city's waterfront skyline may be short lived.  At the opposite end of Downtown Long Beach, Trammell Crow Residential is planning to redevelop a parking lot next to the World Trade Center with the Westside Gateway complex - a multi-phase project highlighted by a proposed 40-story, 426-foot-tall apartment tower.

777 E Ocean BoulevardGoogle Maps