Council votes to settle Superblock lawsuit

The City Council voted unanimously at Wednesday's meeting to settle the city's lawsuit against the owner of the long-vacant Superblock, paving the way for the potential development of property.

The council agreed to settle a lawsuit with Manhattan-based iStar Financial, the Superblock’s current owner, and the former owner and developers of the property — Janow Associates LLC, Shore Road Development Partners LLC, Shore Road-Long Beach Superblock LLC, all subsidiaries of Philips International, a company owned by Philip Pilevsky, and Pilevsky himself — for $5.25 million, payable to the city.

Claiming that millions of dollars in condemnation costs and legal fees still needed to be paid as part of its agreement with Pilevsky, in 2011 the city filed suit against iStar, Pilevsky and his subsidiaries. Last April, State Supreme Court Judge Timothy Driscoll pushed the city to settle with Pilevsky and iStar.

“After 35 years of meetings, public hearings, planning and litigations, the city desires to settle all legal matters relating to the property known as the Superblock in order to move forward with potential development of the property,” the meeting agenda stated.

The settlement agreement includes the construction and installation of new sewer and water mains extending south from Park Avenue along Riverside Boulevard, and east to the Superblock. It also calls for the reopening of the movie theater on Park Avenue, which is owned by Philips International but has remained closed since Hurricane Sandy; and any additional fees and charges required by the city.

The vote came on the same night that iStar representatives presented the proposal at the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce meeting that includes two 15-story buildings with 522 one- and two-bedroom luxury rental apartments, along with a promenade adjacent to the boardwalk consisting of 11,000 square feet of retail space as well as open public space between the two towers.