$31M Lofts Project Restores Bank Building

SAN PEDRO, CA-Urban Pacific Builders LLC of Long Beach expects to have the first of its 89 condominium lofts ready for sale later this month at its $31-million Bank Lofts development at the former Bank of San Pedro building. The project site is at the corner of Seventh and Mesa streets.The lofts will range from 1,000 sf to more than 2,600 sf and are being marketed at prices beginning in the low to mid-$300,000 range. The Bank Lofts, one of several redevelopments slated for the area, represents some of the first new for-sale housing project in Downtown.In addition to the restoration of the 1924 bank building, the project includes new construction, notes Scott Choppin, co-managing partner of Urban Pacific Builders. He says the target market for buyers of the lofts will be middle-income workers who want to live near employment centers in Long Beach, north Orange County and Downtown Los Angeles.San Pedro, like other downtown areas, is becoming more popular as a destination, Choppin points out, and like other revitalized downtowns it is depending on housing as one key to its revitalization. Other reasons for the developer's choice of the project site include its proximity to attractions such as Ports o' Call Village, the LA Maritime Museum and cruise line terminals.The Bank Lofts project is modeled after the Lofts at the Ballpark adjacent to Minute Maid Park in Houston and is designed by Irvine-based KTGY Group. The development will include outdoor courtyards and fireplace areas, a community roof deck, a 1,200-sf multipurpose room, two oversize spas and water features.The project, which is scheduled for completion later this year, also includes 3,500 sf of commercial space on the ground floor. It joins a series of projects by Urban Pacific Builders, which was founded in 1999.