Thursday, October 1, 2026
More than a month after tenants were forced to evacuate a Shore Road co-op when structural problems threatened to cause the building to collapse, residents were allowed to move back in on Wednesday following four weeks of emergency repairs.
Earlier this month, the city had issued a building permit for the repairs, a process that was expedited in the hope of returning residents to the Seabreeze Tower, located at 250 Shore Road, by the end of the year.
“I am happy to report that residents have moved back into the building,” City Manager Charles Theofan said in a statement. “With our Building Department expediting the permit process and the engineering contractor getting the necessary repairs completed, the building is safe for occupancy.”
On Nov. 19, more than 30 residents were forced to evacuate the six-story, 40-unit building after they were informed that it might collapse. The city condemned the 50-year-old structure and ordered tenants to vacate until the necessary repairs were made. The structural problems were discovered when the co-op’s engineering firm, Huntington-based Jordan Ruzz Consulting Engineers, was overseeing repairs to an apartment and found that two of the building’s support columns had deteriorated significantly over years of exposure to weather and saltwater spray.
Earlier this month, Building Commissioner Scott Kemins said that a permit had been approved for the work shortly after the building’s co-op board and engineering firm hired a contractor, Cedarhurst-based Schneider Construction, to begin the repair work.
Kemins said that once the steel and other materials were received, the work of reinforcing the building’s steel-and-concrete support columns could be completed in a few weeks.
“All the steel has been ordered, and it’s a matter of having it delivered, and they estimate it will take two weeks to shore up the beams and get everyone back in the building,” Kemins said earlier this month.
“This building is probably the only one of its kind in Long Beach,” Kemins said, explaining that it is unique because the concrete support columns — which encase steel beams — are on the building’s exterior. “Other buildings have their own concerns, but the way this was constructed helped cause the beams to be exposed.”
On Nov. 29, the building’s management met with shareholders and tenants to detail the necessary repairs as well as their financial options. The management informed tenants that they had received two bids from contractors to take on the project.
