The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) and 6th District Councilman Dee Andrews are inviting the public to celebrate the demolition of two former blighted liquor stores on Saturday, July 23.
The former Sim’s Liquor Store, 552 East Willow St., will be demolished at 10am, and the former Whistler Liquor Store, 941 Pacific Coast Highway, will be demolished at noon. Refreshments will be served.
“Tearing down these two crime hot spots goes a long way toward building up our community, and that’s exactly what the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency is all about,” Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said. “The RDA builds safer neighborhoods and creates jobs.”
Andrews called both locations “a cancer in the city of Long Beach. “When I came into office, my first priority was to clean up this area, and with the help of RDA it is finally happening,” he said.
The liquor stores were known public nuisances for area residents and businesses. Between 2004 and 2009, the two properties received more than 1,600 calls for police service and graffiti removal. The RDA was able to purchase the properties to facilitate future development to better serve the community. The Sim’s Liquor Store site provides a location for commercial development that will complement uses related to the nearby Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, and the RDA is currently in discussions with Wilmac Enterprises, Inc., for a new retail/commercial development at the former Whistler Liquor Store site.
“We are so pleased that the Redevelopment Agency continues to fulfill their mission of enhancing the quality of life in Long Beach by improving blighted areas,” said Annie Greenfeld-Wisner, chair of the Central Project Area Committee. “These improvements, along with other recent redevelopment activity in the area, show their commitment to making our neighborhoods safer, better places to live. Without redevelopment, our neighborhoods would not be decent places to live where our children can be safe.”
For more information, call (562) 570-6172 or visit seyed.jalali@longbeach.gov.
