Builders Sow Delight With Pike Dream of Seaside Village

LONG BEACH â€”  Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood.

--Developer James W. Rouse, quoting a

turn-of-the-century urban planner.

Since buying the old Pike amusement park site in late August, nationally known developer James Rouse and his Los Angeles partner Wayne Ratkovich have been stirring local imaginations with their grand plans.

The partners have quickly spread the word that they want to build, as Rouse says, “a place of joy� on the waterfront where the raucous Pike once stood.

Their plans, though still vague, will incorporate the colorful and lively shopping and entertainment elements that have made Rouse’s “festival marketplaces� in Boston and Baltimore models for reviving deteriorated downtowns, they say.

And the Long Beach project of more than 250,000 square feet, Rouse said, will be his largest.

“This would be a kind of seaside village. If one lived there, one could also work there and shop there. . . . People will find pleasure and convenience and happiness,� said Ratkovich, himself acclaimed for sensitive restoration of historic buildings in Los Angeles.

May Disarm Critics

Rouse, 72, and Ratkovich, 45, bring with them a marketing and development scheme unusual in Long Beach--one that may disarm critics by allowing Long Beach itself to help determine what will be built on 10 of the city’s most valuable and historic acres.

“One has to begin, as with all property, thinking ‘What is it that can be done here that would be most responsive to the needs and the yearnings of the people of this city--and can be done economically?’ � Rouse said in a recent telephone interview from his Maryland headquarters.

The partners have hired a public relations firm to ferret out the views of a cross section of Long Beach leaders. And Ratkovich, the project’s point man, has already taken his upbeat message to community meetings, rival developers and several key offices in City Hall.

For example, he recently talked with Joseph Prevratil, president of Wrather Port Properties Inc., about how a shopping and entertainment “village� Wrather plans north of the Queen Mary could complement, not compete with, the Pike development, Prevratil said.

At the same time, Ratkovich said, he has begun discussions with the owners of 20 acres adjacent to the 10 acres he and Rouse bought two months ago for $17 million. Regardless of ownership, Ratkovich said, all 30 acres--south of Ocean Boulevard between Magnolia and Pine avenues--should be developed with a unified theme and design.

Broad-Brush Plan

So far, local leaders say they are impressed with the partners’ go-slow approach and broad-brush plan.

“This is quite unusual for a developer,� Mayor Ernie Kell said of the project’s two-year lead time. “Normally they want to break ground the day they clear escrow. . . . and normally they view their projects as an island.�

A Ratkovich speech three weeks ago before a coalition of local preservationists also won converts, said Luanne Pryor, a coalition director.

“I think everybody is very enthusiastic about (Ratkovich) coming to town. I think he really cares about what he’s going to put down there. I think he has a sense of community, and is making a special effort to get the community involved,� she said.

Roger Anderman, executive director of the city Redevelopment Agency, said he sees Rouse and Ratkovich as “very high-quality developers� with an intelligent approach to the project. “I’m certainly pleased to have them in Long Beach,� Anderman said.

That they would plunk down millions for a property where four previous projects have been canceled since 1979 also indicates greater developer interest in this city, Anderman said. Competition for other prime downtown sites has also increased dramatically in the past year, he said.

Investment Not Thought Chancy

“The world is finally discovering Long Beach,� Anderman said.

Ratkovich said he and Rouse do not think investment in Long Beach is chancy. Rouse said his old friend Ernest Hahn, developer of the downtown Plaza Mall, one of Long Beach’s earliest redevelopment projects, recommended the site.

“Frankly, we’ve heard this site described by other developers as one of the best in the country. We did not ask the Redevelopment Agency to underwrite our involvement. . . . There is not much doubt left that Long Beach is going to be successful,� Ratkovich said.

For a decade, downtown redevelopment has alternately lurched two steps forward before falling back a stride. Nearly $1.5 billion has been committed to the effort, with construction of civic and convention centers, a shopping mall, two luxury hotels and several major office buildings, according to a recent city report.

But residential, retail and entertainment construction has lagged. The Pike project probably would provide hundreds of new dwellings plus badly needed shopping and entertainment, Rouse and Ratkovich say. All three elements are the highest priorities for the Redevelopment Agency, Anderman said.

Both Rouse and Ratkovich arrive with credentials that indicate they have the resources to do as they promise.

Enclosed-Mall Pioneer

The Rouse Co. built four of the nation’s first five enclosed shopping malls in the late 1950s, and eventually built dozens. It began construction in 1961 of one of the nation’s first and most successful “new towns,� the planned community of Columbia, Md.

And during the past decade Rouse has helped rebuild a number of decaying downtowns with projects like his enormously successful Fanueil Hall marketplace in Boston and Harborplace in Baltimore. The Fanueil Hall project was begun amid “a pervasive pessimism,� but in recent years several cities have solicited Rouse’s help in redevelopment efforts, he said.

All profits from Rouse’s current real estate development corporation, the Economic Development Co., will be funneled to community groups to refurbish homes in poor neighborhoods nationwide, he said. An associated nonprofit foundation has collected more than $20 million in corporate donations and is using the money to improve housing for the poor in 25 cities, Rouse said.

Though a developer for only 12 years, Ratkovich is an influential Los Angeles businessman who bucked conventional wisdom to restore the historic Oviatt and Fine Arts buildings downtown and the Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theater complex in the mid-Wilshire district.

“We would like to clone Wayne Ratkovich and spread him around Los Angeles,� said Ruthann Lehrer, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy. “He has led the way in Los Angeles in the restoration of historic buildings. . . . He has a rare sensitivity to the community.�

Christopher L. Stewart, vice chairman of the Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency board and president of a large downtown businessmen’s group, said he has been trying to get Ratkovich and Rouse interested in a Los Angeles project for a long time.

‘Envious of Long Beach

“I’m a little bit envious of Long Beach,� Stewart said. “Wayne is in the vanguard of new developers whose projects reflect Southern California’s emphasis of open space and aesthetics.�

Both Rouse and Ratkovich are expert at mixing commercial and retail uses in an attractive setting, Stewart said. “It’s very interesting. Rouse has a national and international reputation and Wayne has a very compatible reputation for doing the same thing locally,� Stewart said.

Though both men say Long Beach itself will decide what will eventually replace the last of the old Pike buildings, they described in interviews a broad vision for the site.

Ratkovich said he wants to retain “the spirit of the Pike,� not only with a festival environment but with a prominent artifact of the amusement park.

In the end, Ratkovich said, the project will have apartments--though perhaps not as many as the 1,000 city plans call for. It will have stores and shops and a central plaza with entertainment to lure non-residents to the area, he said. There will, Ratkovich said, be no large towers or obtrusive parking garages.

Their vision jibes well with that of the city and the community.

No ‘Masses of Concrete’

“We don’t want masses of concrete for the Pike area, and we don’t want towers completely out of scale. . . . Developers are going to have to start building little communities--with their own amenities,� said Pryor, who worked on the Local Coastal Plan for Long Beach.

Douglas Otto, president of the Long Beach Heritage Foundation, also sees a revived Long Beach “for the people who live in Long Beach, not just the people developers expect to come to Long Beach once these projects are completed. They need to look carefully at the character of Long Beach.�

The Pike project architect is The Jerde Partnership, known for its innovative and color-splashed design of Horton Plaza in San Diego, he said. Jerde is also architect for the $200-million Westin Hotel project on 16 acres immediately south of the Pike site.

The Redevelopment Agency, like Ratkovich, views the two sites as complementary, with the Westin providing a 528-room hotel, two office buildings and a six-acre lagoon and park. The Pike would provide housing and limited retail shops on ground and top floors, according to the city plan.

A third key parcel in the Pike area is the so-called City Block, between Rouse’s and Ratkovich’s two Pike parcels.

Local developers Robert Kendrick and Steven Sterbentz own about 84% of the 3.6 developable acres on the block. Kendrick said Ratkovich has not yet approached them about a unified seaside village theme.

Testing Developer Interest

Kendrick and Sterbentz have already received the Redevelopment Agency’s approval in concept of their own $70-million project of 350 apartments, shops and walkway links to the rest of the downtown. But with Rouse and Ratkovich in the picture, the Redevelopment Agency has begun testing the developer interest in the block.

“We were in high gear. We basically are ready to go. But since this proposal by Ratkovich, the wheels have kind of slowed down,� Kendrick said.

By law, current owners must receive preferential consideration from the agency, but if developer interest is great the site could be made available for competitive proposals, he said.

If all goes well here for Rouse and Ratkovich, they hope to begin construction in two years. And if, as they believe, “there is a yearning for life in the center of the city,� Long Beach may have its own festival marketplace by the end of 1990.

Elsewhere, “the components have been a market, lots of eating places, lots of small and larger shops, lots of diversity, color, fragrance and texture that does recall the marketplace of the past,� Rouse said.

“There is a spirit of festival provided by that spirit of choice. . . . A plaza where people can gather and where entertainers can come in. Magic shows, jugglers, small bands. It’s not structured entertainment. It’s involving the people of the city in the life of the center of the city once again,� he said.