Long Beach Overview

Since 2000, Long Beach began experiencing an urban renaissance sparked by $1.8 billion of private developments.  Over 6,000 residential units have been built or are in the pipeline which will cost $1.5 billion and bring 8,000 new residents to Downtown Long Beach.  Furthermore, there has been an investment of $240 million in new commercial development bringing 800,000 square feet of new retail space.

Inventory of Downtown Residential Unit table

	For Sale Units	Rental Units	Total Units
Planned Construction	4,267	104	4,371
Under Construction	706	265	971
Recently Completed	724	0	724
Total	5697	369	6,006

The two main economic drivers of Long Beach are the industrial port and tourism.  The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's busiest seaports, and the second busiest seaport in the United States. With 10 piers and 80 berths, the Port encompasses 3,240 acres of land and has facilities capable of handling the largest container vessels afloat (a quarter-mile in length). In 2004, the Port of Long Beach moved 145 million tons of cargo across its wharves, generating $100 billion in trade. An enormous revenue generator, the Port boasts the following impressive economic statistics:

• $5.4 billion in local and state tax revenues.
• $146.5 billion yearly in industry sales nationwide.
• Port-related activities support 30,000 jobs or one in eight jobs in Long Beach.
• $14.3 billion in annual trade-related wages.

The Port is a massive economic engine, generating 30,000 (one in every eight) jobs in Long Beach, 315,000 jobs in the five county Southern California region and 1.4 million jobs throughout the nation.  In 2004, the Port of Long Beach handled over 101 million metric tons of foreign cargo, or one-third of all the container traffic entering California ports. East Asian trade accounts for more than 90 percent of the shipments through the Port with top trading partners being China/Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

Managed by the City of Long Beach Harbor Department, the Port operates as a landlord which leases the facilities to private firms to operate, therefore, no tax revenue is required for the Port to function and rental income is reinvested into Port development.

The Port is planning to invest an additional $1.1 billion to improve and enlarge its terminals between 2006 and 2010. The Port plans to create five container terminals of more than 300 acres each and to build two other large terminals. The new terminals will have dockside rail (intermodal) facilities, which allow cargo to be transferred directly between ship and train. Such direct transfers eliminate the need for transfer from ship/to truck/to train, and speed deliveries between Long Beach and markets nationwide. The new 375-acre Pier T container terminal on portions of the former Long Beach Naval Station and Shipyard and the new 160-acre Pier S container on redeveloped Terminal Island oil field, have significantly increased new cargo handling capability. This expansion provides new and improved deep-water berths to keep pace with the new super tankers, assuring the area's continuation as the west-coast hub of international trade.

Additionally, tourism is a major economic driver for Long Beach.  The Downtown Long Beach area is bolstered by major tourist attractions such as the Queen Mary, the $100 million Aquarium of the Pacific and the adjoining retail development in the Downtown Marina area, Shoreline Village. A major expansion of the convention center was completed in late 1994 and now offers 334,000 square feet of exhibition space. Additionally, Long Beach is the annual host of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach which draws approximately 300,000 spectators and international attention to the city.

With over 5.5 million people, a combination of day and overnight visitors currently visiting the City of Long Beach, tourism currently generates over $1.75 billion each year to Long Beach’s economy. These dollars can be directly attributed to meetings, conventions, tour groups, tourists and day visitor expenditures. In fact, over $400 million in meetings and convention business is held in Long Beach each year. Direct spending generated by convention attendees, tourists and day visitors is currently concentrated throughout the Downtown core area (within five blocks of the Convention Center and hotels) and along the more defined and developed retail/entertainment corridors. Over 1.9 million people go through the Convention Center annually for performing arts, special events, sports activities, trade shows and conventions.

For the fourth consecutive year in a row, Long Beach continues to lead Los Angeles County in occupancy growth and ADR growth. Transient occupancy tax collections, a tax on the room rate paid by the overnight tourist, has increased over 49%. Most of this collected tax is invested in city development and the general fund to support police, fire and public works for citizens of Long Beach.

The following chart outlines the major attractions and the annual visitor numbers.

Attraction	Annual Visitors
Aquarium of the Pacific	3.5 million
Queen Mary	1.5 million
Long Beach Convention Center (350 shows/year)	1.5 million
Carnival Cruise Lines	.5 million
Toyota Grand Prix	.2 million
Art Museums	.1 million
Long Beach Pride Celebration	.1 million
Other Events	.2 million
Total	7.6 million