Superblock rental building to be completed by year’s end

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The Superblock project, which is filling seaside lots that have been empty for 40 years, is to be partially completed sooner than expected, an executive at the development company told the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce on Monday night. An apartment building, one of three under construction, will be finished before two buildings of condominiums.

Steven Krieger, a principal at the Garden City-based developer Engel Burman, now known as B2K, announced that the first building, which will have 238 rental units, will be completed by the end of this year. Previously, Engel Burman had said only that the entire $369 million project — the largest single development in the city’s history — would be finished by late 2024.

Retail space that is part of the project will not be open for business until next year.

The apartment building is slated to include a variety of businesses, with entrances on the boardwalk. So far, only one has officially signed on: Kilwins, a chocolate, fudge and ice cream shop. Other businesses, however, have shown interest, including an unnamed Long Beach salon.

“We started the rental building before the two condo buildings,” Krieger explained. “That building looks like it’s going to be ready for occupancy at the end of this year. So at the end of this year, I think it’s going to be great for everybody that has a local business.”

At the chamber meeting, Krieger encouraged local business owners to reach out to B2K to inquire about renting space, adding that the company wants to help develop local businesses.

“With the rental building being completed, that means that we’re going to start marketing in one of the offices that we have there,” Krieger said. “Our marketing office will be one of the retail spaces that we have there, facing the boardwalk. We will start marketing probably six months prior to occupancy, so that means in May, we’ll look at being ready to open up a rental office there.”

The units will be rented out as “shells,” and the tenants will furnish them.

The rollout of condominiums ready for occupancy is expected to begin sometime around April 2024, Jon Weiss, a partner with B2K, said. They will be marketed through a separate sales office, overseen by Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which, Weiss and Krieger, would be open seven days a week.

The westernmost building, called Tower A, or 100 Boardwalk, will have somewhere around 100 condominiums, as will the middle building, Tower B, or 140 Boardwalk. One or the other may have more or fewer than 100 units, but together they will total 200. The condos are expected to sell for $960,000 and up to $4.5 million, and the apartments in the building farthest east, Tower C, will start around $3,000 per month and go into the $6,000s, according to Krieger.

The tenants in all three buildings will have access to a pool and tennis courts, and an addition to the boardwalk-side businesses, Tower C will also have a restaurant.

Last March, construction began on a two-story garage that will have 1,100 parking spaces.

“We will also have a separate garage and entrance that can be seen on Long Beach Boulevard,” Krieger said. “The separate garage will be for customers that want to go into that restaurant, with an elevator which will take them up directly. For everybody and everything else, the entrance will be on the boardwalk.”

B2K says it has spent about $4 million replacing the sewer lines running through the property, which will also impact nearby residences. “Them doing that was actually a benefit,” Acting City Manager Ron Walsh said, “because it doesn’t just affect that building. It affects everything in the city around it.”

A correction was made to the story that ran in the Jan. 26 Long Beach Herald regarding pricing. A correction will run in the Feb. 9 issue.