Ocean Club

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Information
The Ocean Club

Location	Long Beach, California, USA
Status	Complete
Constructed	1983-1988
Use	Residential
Height
Antenna/Spire	none
Roof	68.0 m
Top floor	unknown m
Technical details
Floor count	16 on North, 20 on South
Floor area	Unknown m²
Elevator count	4
Companies
Architect	Xavier Orozco

The Ocean Club is a beachfront residential highrise located in Downtown Long Beach, featuring 116 condominiums. The units range from one to three bedrooms. It is notables for its unique postmodern architecture and construction techniques.

1 Location
2 History
3 Building Structure
4 Architectural Characteristics
5 Homeowners Association
6 Gallery
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Location

The building is located on a beachfront bluff with direct beach access.
The property occupies all space between Ocean Boulevard and the beach.
Because of its location, the building falls under the oversight of the California Coastal Commission.
While the building remains in the 90802 zip code associated with downtown Long Beach, it is almost halfway between downtown Long Beach and Belmont Shore, Long Beach, California.
Its address is 1310 E. Ocean Boulevard.

[edit] History

The building's structure was originally completed in 1984 but, due to a poor real estate market at the time, sat vacant until 1988. The developer insisted on using only high-end construction techniques and eventually was driven to bankruptcy.

When the units finally began selling, they were commanding the highest price of any condominiums in Downtown Long Beach. Some of the penthouse apartment units sold for over one million dollars, a considerable sum at the time. To this day, the building's units command a premium over neighboring highrises and remain among the most sought after in Long Beach, California.

The building was initially named Sunset Bay Towers. For unknown reasons, the name was later changed to the Ocean Club. Speculation runs that the name change was a result of the building's location on the ocean (not a bay) and that is consists of one tower, not multiple towers.

[edit] Building Structure

The building features a 16 story tower located above a four-story bluff pedestal.

The tower portion was constructed at an approximately 45 degree angle to the shoreline to allow for maximum view. As such, all but approximately four of the 116 units have an ocean view.
From the north side, the bluff pedestal is essentially underground and is used only for parking. From the south side, the bluff pedestal featurs an ocean view and direct beach access for the 16 units it houses.
The building uses a steel and concrete and structure that hold the floors together with cables, allowing the builing to flex considerably during an Earthquake. It is designed to withstand an Earthquake of 8.7 on the Richter magnitude scale. This is believed to be among the highest earthquake tolerance design specification in SoCal, higher even than the famous U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles.

[edit] Architectural Characteristics

The common areas have the following characteristics:

On the north side, the complex features a fountain (unique among Long Beach residential high-rise buildings) and a tropical garden.
On the south side, the complex features an expansive, park-like common area that features a swimming pool, hot tub, gas barbecues, and a shuffleboard court. There is also an expansive area for tanning or eating.
Other common areas include a gym, two sauna rooms, a meeting room, and beachfront events room known as the Cabana Room. A locker room and showers are placed near the beach access.
The building was built with two hotel rooms, for the exclusive use of resident's guests. One has since been converted to an office for the on-site manager.
The building features a helipad for emergency evacuations.

The private residential areas have the following characteristics:

Floors four to 12 have a consistent floorplan. There is no 13th floor. Floors 14 to 17 are considered to be penthouse apartments. The bluff has four stories of units that can be identified because they begin with "B".
All units feature at least one balcony or patio.
Originally, each unit featured a videophone. This technology had yet to catch up with the promise and the system was subsequently removed.
Originally, each unit featured kitchen cabinets from German cabinet manufacturer SieMatic.

[edit] Homeowners Association

The Ocean Club Homeowners association features an elected board of five members that serve two year terms.
Unlike most homeowners associations that outsource maintenance and security personnel, the Ocean Club is one of the few that actually has its own staff. The current staffing includes: four full-time security personnel, three full-time maintenance personnel, one part-time engineer, and one part-time building manager.
Unlike most homeowners associations that assess dues on a proration basis (generally square feet), the Ocean Club is one of the few that assesses standard monthly dues on all units regardless of size. Two of the 116 units have two stories and receive a higher rate. This policy has been the subject of considerable debate and one lawsuit in recent years.