JPI Buys Apartment Parcel at Long Beach Mall Redevelopment

JPI has bought an approved site for 272 apartments at the redeveloped City Place mall in Long Beach.

The Texas-based developer bought 1.6 acres at Mosaic, the project that will replace the vacant City Place Long Beach shopping center at 151 East 5th Street, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The sellers were Mosaic owners Turnbridge Equities, based in New York; Waterford Property Company, based in Newport Beach; and Beverly Hills-based Monument Square Investment Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In January, the consortium won approval to build three, eight-story apartment buildings with 900 apartments, including 54 affordable units for very low-income households, plus 38,000 square feet of shops and restaurants at the 14-acre Mosaic site.

They acquired the beleaguered shopping center in March last year through the sale of a $63 million loan.

JPI acquired a site approved for 272 apartments at the southwestern corner of Long Beach Boulevard and East Fifth Street.

The eight-story project, to be called Jefferson Long Beach, includes 16 affordable units and 19,000 square feet of ground-floor restaurants and shops. Longbeachize reports that JPI is expected to break ground this year.

Brokers Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Chris Benton, Anthony Muhlstein and Gabe Munson of Newmark represented the sellers in the deal.

The trio of real estate investors will keep the rest of the mall, designed by Downtown Los Angeles-based MVE + Partners, and approved for another 628 homes.

One parcel on the southwest corner of Long Beach Boulevard and East Sixth Street would contain a 269-unit apartment complex. Another parcel to the south would feature a 359-unit complex.

Mosaic, which will have 150,000 square feet of additional shops and restaurants, announced new tenants, including Broken Spirits Distillery and Restaurant, Sake Secret and Coffee Station Cafe.

Irving-based JPI, founded in 1989, was acquired in October by a U.S. unit of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Forestry for $215 million.

In 2020, JPI proposed replacing the former Long Beach City Hall, a 14-story Brutalist landmark dating to the 1970s, with more than 580 homes, according to Urbanize. The firm now plans housing developments next to Metro stops in Monrovia and Inglewood.

— Dana Bartholomew