Superblock taking shape

Early signs that there will one day be life on Long Beach’s Superblock are just becoming visible.

Parts of what will be a two-story garage with 1,100 parking spaces have been constructed in recent weeks. Since early fall, construction crews have driven 2,300 piles into the ground to support the foundation of the buildings.

Each day, yellow-jacketed work crews are at the site, revving up machinery to keep the project moving at the 6.5-acre site.

For four decades, barrier island residents have grown accustomed to a vast empty lot adjacent to the boardwalk, between Long Beach and Riverside boulevards. The Garden City-based developer Engel Burman says that by late 2024, the $369 million project — the largest single development in the city’s history — will be completed. Long Beach will then be home to two nine-story condo buildings with 200 units, and a 10-story building with 200 apartments. The developer’s plans also call for a boardwalk-level swimming pool and plaza and 6,500 square feet of restaurant and commercial space.

“We are on schedule in meeting our construction milestones thanks in part to close coordination with Long Beach City officials,” Jon Weiss, an Engel Burman partner, wrote in an email earlier this week. “As a result, our sewer infrastructure work is well along and it will not only serve our development but strengthen the city’s ability to provide this crucial and essential service.”

That is a key component of the project. Crews are installing a new sewer line to connect 438 condos and apartments in the city to Long Beach’s sewer system. Riverside Boulevard, from East Walnut Street to just south of Park Avenue, is closed. Work will take place on other sections of Riverside, and city officials say that intermittent closures and detours should be expected. Work on the $4 million to $5 million sewer line is expected to take about three months.

As part of a community-development agreement, Engel Burman is installing the sewer system, with expanded capacity for the new residents of the condo and apartment buildings, which is expected to improve Long Beach’s overall infrastructure.

“In the weeks and months to come our neighbors will see a project that will move beyond what is out-of-sight and begin to become apparent to even the most casual passerby,” Weiss wrote. “We are now working on the garage structure, which will lead to steel and concrete in the months to come.”

“It’s finally progress Long Beach will be able to see,” he added.

Joe Febrizio, the city’s commissioner of public works, said earlier this week that he was pleased with the progress Engel Burman has been making. “They’re moving much faster than I thought possible,” Febrizio said.

Once completed, the superblock buildings are expected to bring in, for the most part, wealthier residents. The condos are expected to sell for $700,000 to $1 million, and the apartments will rent for an estimated $3,000 to $4,000 per month.

The Superblock property had been little more than an eyesore for residents and visitors for years, with many wondering whether it would ever be developed, and others hoping it might eventually be turned into a park.

A groundbreaking last September ended decades of lawsuits, negotiations, and meetings between potential developers, city officials and skeptical — and sometimes hostile — residents who complained about tax breaks that developers sought.

Two major roadblocks were overcome in the past year. Last April, the city reached a settlement agreement with the developer iStar Financial, which claimed that the city was in breach of contract for not supporting iStar’s plans for the superblock. The agreement ended iStar’s $100 million lawsuit against the city.

Then, last August, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency approved Engel Burman’s plans, which included a 25-year, $52 million tax abatement. The developer said that the abatement was absolutely necessary for the project to proceed.