Marina Pacifica

Marina Pacifica is a marina-adjacent shopping mall featuring movie theaters, shopping, dining & copious parking. It is in southeastern Long Beach, California between Second Street and the Los Cerritos Channel. The shopping center has variously been named Marina Pacifica Mall and Marina Pacifica Shopping Center.

Original construction of the shopping center in 1972-3 was a $10 million project of the Robert Tebbe and Southern California Financial corporations on 143 acres of land, an old oil tank farm and several capped oil wells, providing 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of gross leasable area for retail, a cinema and offices, oriented to the adjacent marina. The concept was one of a "Mediterranean spa", and peach, oleander and other trees were planted. There was a bridge to an adjacent residential complex.[1]

Long Beach-based Buffums department store moved in as an anchor in 1976, building a two-story, 39,000-square-foot (3,600 m2) store designed by Associated Architects and Planners of Los Angeles, and moving its Marina branch from a smaller adjacent 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) location. At the time, the new Buffum's formed part of a 108-store, six-restaurant center.[2][3]

A 21,000-square-foot AMC Theatres multicinema and Trader Joe's supermarket were added in 1984.[4]

By 1990, the Los Angeles Times characterized Marina Pacifica as an example of "the wrong way to build a mall", a "graveyard", with the staircases too hard to find, lack of a way between shops without traversing the parking lot, vacant storefronts, and a lack of attention. At the time, it was envisioned that Triple Five Joshi Development Co., partner of the Triple Five conglomerate that built the West Edmonton Mall, the world's largest at the time, would buy the Marina Pacifica Mall.[5]

Buffum's closed all its branches including Marina Pacifica in 1990.[6][7]

Tower Records closed in 2007 and was replaced by Best Buy in 2008, which closed in October 2018.[8]

Current tenants include Nordstrom Rack, Pier 1 Imports, AMC Theatres, Barnes & Noble, Sit 'n Sleep, and a Ralphs supermarket.[9]

The property is currently being redeveloped and managed by NewMark Merrill Companies.[10]

References
  1. "$100 million Marina Pacifica to rise in Long Beach". Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California). 24 Sep 1972. p. 78. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  2. "Waterfront shopping". Independent Press-Telegram. 31 January 1076.
  3. "Harbor Bank given Marina branch OK". Independent Press-Telegram. 10 July 1976. p. B-9. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/390876048
  5. Fiore, Faye (3 June 1990). "Guru of Shopping Centers Seen as Marina Mall Savior". Los Angeles Times. pp. 554 (Southeast section (J) p.1).
  6. "Long Beach Lost: The Buffums' department store in Downtown Long Beach Post". Long Beach Post. 2018-11-10. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  7. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/03/14/Buffums-to-shut-all-16-department-stores/4728668926800/
  8. Emily Rasmussen, “Best Buy at Marina Pacifica to Close in October”, Long Beach Press-Telegram, August 2018
  9. Official website, Marina Pacifica
  10. NewMark Merrill Companies

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