Earlier this week, on July 29, the City of Long Beach in California held the opening ceremony of the new Civic Center, which includes a new City Hall and Port Administration Building. The USD 520 million project was designed to bring a revitalized civic core to downtown to serve residents, attract visitors and provide safe and efficient city operations.

Located on the site of the former Long Beach Courthouse, the Long Beach Civic Center consists of a new, energy-efficient, seismically sound and less costly to maintain city hall and port headquarters anchored by a 73,000 square foot civic plaza, a revitalized Lincoln Park and spacious public library, and reconnected streets and a pedestrian path connecting to regional transit. It is equipped with solar power and rainwater systems.

The opening marks a major milestone in the innovative public-private partnership with Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners.

In 2014, City Council approved a plan to partner with Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners on a new Civic Center. The project obligates Plenary-Edgemoor to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new civic center for the next 40 years. The Port financed its new headquarters separately, using revenue bonds.

A new Main Library will open September 21, 2019. The private development portion of the project is expected to include transit-oriented mixed-used developments, high-rise condominiums, retail and a hotel. 

The City of Long Beach was advised by Arup, a leading global design and consulting firm for the built environment, to help structure a massive P3 partnership. Arup guided the City through a design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) procurement model – a model uniquely suited to the City’s needs, accelerating the timeline, incentivizing on-budget completion, generating opportunities for economic private development, and ensuring that these public assets will be well preserved after a 40-year operating plan.