Historic 115 Pine Ave. building in Downtown Long Beach to be converted to housing

The iconic, 1906 French Renaissance Revival gem that is the Enloe Building at 115 Pine Ave. is set to be converted to 70 housing units, as first reported by Urbanize LA.

What is 115 Pine Ave.—and why is it important to the Long Beach architectural landscape?

Located at the northwest corner of Pine Avenue and 1st Street is the First National Bank Building. (It also went by the Enloe Building and the Bank of America Building previously.) It is a French Renaissance Revival masterpiece that had many of its original details hidden until a 1980s update that pushed it back to its former glory. Named in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, it is the only pre-World War I commercial building over three stories tall in downtown Long Beach that survives intact. (Especially after the disastrous earthquake of 1933.)

Designed by architects Robert E. Train and Robert F. Williams, the building was constructed in 1906 amid a banking building war in DTLB. The famed 20-foot clock that sits atop it was added in 1907, stable thanks to the steel-framed structure that was fully encased in buff-colored brick. Before the building’s construction, there was a wood-frame, two-story hotel named Iowa Villa.

According to nonprofit Clio’s record, the buidling at 115 Pine Ave. was “altered in the late 1930s by removing all but one entrance and covering the exterior ground level with blue tile facing. The parapet along the roofline was removed in 1954. The building underwent massive renovations in the 1980s to return the exterior and parts of the interior to its original style as much as possible while retrofitting to guard against earthquake damage and to install a sprinkler system. The landmark clock was repaired to once again function, although it was awaiting new gear parts in 2022 for additional repairs.”

What are the plans for the housing conversion?

Cameron Crockett of Ultra-Unit Architectural Studio will lead the conversation design. Here’s what we know is being proposed and will have to face both the Cultural Heritage Commission and the Planning Commission before it is entitled.

70 residential units are being proposed, with 11 of them being low-income dwelling units. Additionally, a 3,618 square-foot roof top deck and enclosed common open space is being proposed.

The 65,540-square-foot, six-story property at 115 Pine Ave. was placed on auction in 2014 by Pine Center LLC. Ensemble Real Estate Solutions then bought it for $10.9M that year. But this isn’t the only project in DTLB to receive the adaptive re-use treatment—and more are on the way.

The adaptive re-use model has been used for more than just the building at 115 Pine Ave.

From the Edison at 1st Street and Long Beach Boulevard to the Ocean Center building at Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue, there has been plenty fo adpative re-use of historical buildings in Long Beach. Especially in DTLB. But the current slew of adaptive re-use projects makes absolute sense. Post-pandemic, offices are showing higher and higher signs of vacancy. On the flip side, housing costs are continuing to skyrocket. In this sense, it makes perfect sense to begin converting these buildings into spaces that are used and loved.

There’s the soon-to-open Fairmont Breakers, which overtook the historic Breakers building to be converted into the city’s first luxury hotel. 400 Oceangate is being proposed for housing. The former Verizon Building on Ocean Boulevard has become housing. The list goes on and on.

Now, what to do with the Securities & Exchanges building directly across the street from 115 Pine Ave., which used to house The Federal Bar…

Editor’s note: This article didn’t originally include renderings from Ultra-Unit Architectural Studio.