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Spark at Midtown

Location

Long Beach, CA

timeline

2016—2021

Role

Consultant

Services

Landscape Architecture
Engagement
Building + Interior

The Spark at Midtown is a mixed-use community consisting of nearly one hundred affordable homes, consisting of permanent supportive housing and family housing, serving the diverse needs of Long Beach residents.

The entirety of the ground floor is dedicated to a collection of nonprofit organizations curated to serve residents above and those already living in the surrounding neighborhood. As part of the Spark, the adjacent Rhea Street was permanently closed to traffic and converted into a new public open space.

Urban + Systems

Planning + Policy

Building +  Interior

The ground floor hosts a collection of nonprofit and community partners including the YMCA of Greater Long Beach, Dignity Health, and Urban Commons to provide programming for residents above and in the surrounding community - integrating the project into the neighborhood. City Fabrick engaged staff and youth of the YMCA-Youth Institute to design a new space for their STEAM programming. Working with Dignity Health, City Fabrick designed a new neighborhood clinic that provides convenient healthcare access for surrounding residents, augmenting the reach of their Long Beach St Mary Health Campus. The ground floor program also includes a teaching kitchen that also supports a cottage industry catering company Urban Commons.

Landscape Architecture

City Fabrick designed the public open space and surrounding streetscape, including accommodations for a future cycle track along Long Beach Boulevard. The new plaza was created by closing a half-block of Rhea Street, adjacent to the project site, repurposing the public roadway for people. The much needed public open space enhances pedestrian connections between the neighborhood and light rail corridor while expanding available park amenities including a sports court, outdoor fitness equipment, turf area, and stage.

Graphic

Engagement

The design process for these community-serving elements included prototyping the plaza design with program partners for a daylong pop-up park, which influenced design and programming elements for the final project. The innovative outreach and engagement strategy was supported through a grant funded by Enterprise Community Partners.

Tactical

Organization

We need to give others a home and a place. That’s what The Spark is doing. . . . That is why we’re so excited to be involved in this partnership.” — Bob Cabeza | YMCA of Greater Long Beach