Economic Development

Welcome to the Economic Development Business Brief for February 19, 2021

Welcome to the Economic Development Business Brief for February 4, 2021.

ED Staff anticipates it will return to City Council with findings and recommendations regarding the results of the Independent Jobs Coordinator Pilot Program prior to the expiration of the current PLA.  

Update on the Independent Jobs Coordinator Pilot Program

The Long Beach City Council unanimously voted Tuesday, October 15, to approve a permanent lease and cost-sharing agreement between the City of Long Beach and the selected operator for Community Hospital Long Beach – Molina, Wu, Network, LLC (MWN).

Long Beach is one step closer to reopening Community Hospital.

Not only is Long Beach’s skyline growing, but its plethora of new developments are also attracting top-tier businesses to the city. That was the message Mayor Robert Garcia sent during his annual “Building a Better Long Beach” presentation on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Making way for more affordable housing for seniors, the Long Beach City Council has formally approved the sale of a 15,795-square-foot lot in Central Long Beach to affordable housing developer Mercy Housing California of Los Angeles.

Two years into the City of Long Beach’s 10-year blueprint for economic development, the Economic Development Commission will provide an update on milestones met thus far at a meeting on Tuesday, April 30 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the City Council Chambers.

Founded by George Economides, an immigrant from the island nation of Cyprus, the Business Journal has been reporting in the City of Long Beach since March 1987. In honor of National Small Business Week (May 5-11), and the immigrant heritage of this publication, the Business Journal spoke to local entrepreneurs who have traveled over oceans and continents to make this city their home, and who continue to help the local economy thrive.

The LA promoter is betting on smaller, genre-specific festivals on a site near the popular Queen Mary.

Planning to attend a music festival in Southern California this summer? Bring a towel and some sun block, because the region's live music scene has shifted back to the coastal waters of LA and Orange County.

Long Beach-based software design company Laserfiche is set for a massive expansion of its headquarters after the City Council approved a project Tuesday night that will add over 100,000 square feet to its campus.

Currently, in 30 cities around the world, Founders Live hosts regular pitching competitions in each city and live-streams them, allowing anyone to watch local entrepreneurs everywhere from Long Beach to Harare, Zimbabwe, share the story of their startups.hange that.

Through a unique program offering 0% interest loans – half crowd-funded and half paid with matching dollars – Long Beach baker Arturo Enciso was able to raise $10,000 to help meet growing demand for his homemade breads.

Since its arrival more than 50 years ago, the Queen Mary has been a busy events venue and hotel, hosting dozens of concerts through the years as well as annual events such as Christmas-themed happenings and Dark Harbor during Halloween.

Entrepreneur Laurie Gray lives and works downtown, and she says that’s where she does all of her holiday shopping, too.“I hardly ever leave downtown,” the owner of The Pie Bar (450 Pine Ave.) said, noting that there’s no real reason to go far from home since everything she needs is right in her own backyard.

Partners in the Long Beach College Promise, an initiative that prioritizes Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) students for acceptance to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and provides them a tuition-free year at Long Beach City College (LBCC), announced new enhancements to the program with Promise 2.0 taking effect next fall.

Portuguese Bend, the endeavor announced last year from the owners of Lola’s and The Social List, Luis and Brenda Navarro—and their third dive into gastronomy, offering the city its first Made In Long Beach spirits, has officially broken ground.

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — New townhouses up for sale in downtown Long Beach come with smart appliances, and no gas bills.

Long Beach could see not one, but two large residential projects within blocks of each other move forward this Thursday.

The second phase of one of the largest developments in Long Beach, at Ocean Boulevard and
Alamitos Avenue, will be breaking ground next month, according to city officials—and bringing Long Beach its tallest building with it.

That was the message from Mayor Robert Garcia on Tuesday as he highlighted nearly six dozen construction projects on the way in a presentation called “Building a Better Long Beach.”

In Downtown Long Beach, million-dollar homes, high-end condominiums and luxury apartments line Ocean Boulevard, just a few steps from the beach. The waterfront has high-rise hotels, towering office buildings and chic retail and restaurants. The city also has pockets of abject poverty that could benefit from a new federal program designed to bring investment and development into blighted areas

A 127-unit multifamily asset in Long Beach has sold for $51M, a sign that the city’s rental housing market outside of its downtown corridor is coming up, Stepp Commercial principal Robert Stepp said.

More tenants were announced today by the East Long Beach development Long Beach Exchange (LBX), joining a diverse list of retailers already open for business.

A rising tide is supposed to lift all boats. That doesn't seem to be the case with the current booming economy, though, and the Everyone In movement is trying to do something about that.

The companies located in Douglas Park represent a wide array of industries. Several hearken back to the aviation roots of the site.

The Long Beach Community Investment Company (LBCIC), the body that oversees and administrates the City of Long Beach’s affordable housing funds, has voted to approve an negotiation with Long Beach-based LINC Housing Corporation for the development of a massive property at the southeast corner of Magnolia and Pacific Coast Hwy.

If anyone is at the center of everything relevant in politics and culture today, it’s the 28^th mayor of Long Beach, Calif., Robert Garcia.