This private balcony with a mountain view can be accessed through one of the unit’s two bedrooms at 411 W. Seaside Way, Unit 1701, in Long Beach.
MELINA PIZANO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Where: 411 W. Seaside Way, Unit 1701, Long Beach. The unit is located in West Ocean Towers
Size: 1,330 square feet
Built: 2007
Beds/baths: Two bedrooms, two bathrooms
Amenities: Private patio area, open layout, travertine floors, panoramic views
Listing price: $785,000
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles on the best views for sale in Long Beach.
There’s one noteworthy difference between living in a high-rise building in Long Beach versus its Newport Beach or Santa Monica coastal kin.
In the two more expensive cities, residents have an unobstructed view of the ocean. This is great during daylight. But at night, the views at best offer them and their guests a peak at a big moon and some stars – and at worst, on a moonless night, they get expansive blackness.
In Long Beach, the lights of the port, the Pike at Rainbow Harbor, the Queen Mary and the rest of the city are constantly in view in some high-rise units – at a fraction of the price – and of course, by day, there are Catalina Island and the rest of Southern California’s coastline to gawk at.
That’s the case with 411 W. Seaside Way, Unit 1701. Priced at $785,000, the two-bedroom, two-bath unit is flooded with natural light because of its open layout and panoramic, corner location. The 1,330-square-foot property went on the market Thursday.
It’s one of only two units in the development that features its own large private patio area, and something that’s unique to even condos that do have patios: the freedom to barbecue.
Most patios in condo developments sit beneath the floor of the patio above, preventing the Southern California summertime tradition for safety reasons. However, this particular patio has nothing but air above it.
“One of the things that’s neat about this unit is you can barbecue on the patio,” said Mike Dunfee of Doma Properties. Aside from the patio, there are sweeping views from the master bedroom and the living room – views that vary broadly from day to night, sunshine or rain, he added.
“The view at nighttime and sunset and sunrise is always changing,” he said. “On rainy days, you can see the storm coming in. There’s always something interesting to look at.”
The unit is in the West Ocean Towers, which went up around the time the recession hit.
As they were being built, the sleek, attractively modern look of the towers – with more metal and glass than concrete – drew a lot of interest. The design of the towers goes away from the older square-shaped style, and they offered the latest amenities, several upscale common areas, two gyms, a guest suite, a conference center, meeting areas and wine storage.
But because the units were considered in the mid- to upper-middle price range, they were among the area’s worst hit by the real estate downturn. Initially, prices ranged from the high $400,000s to $1.5 million in West Ocean. By the summer of 2008, a company called Citi Property Investors was having a real estate auction for more than 30 condos in West Ocean in which some units sold for 50 percent or more off their original asking prices.
During the past few years, West Ocean and downtown living slowly have made a comeback, Dunfee said. “It took a little bit bigger of a hit, but now that market is coming back,” he said. “The move-up buyers and the second-home buyers are coming back.”
Despite slowing home sales across the nation, the median price for condos in April were up in many parts of Long Beach – they were up 5.3 percent in the 90802 ZIP code where West Ocean lies, according to real estate information service DataQuick.
Southern California’s housing market actually perked up slightly in April from the previous month, with a total of 20,008 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month, according to DataQuick. That was up 13.4 percent from March, but down 6.6 percent from a year ago, the DataQuick information shows.
Dunfee said Unit 1701 is priced to move. It may not get the multiple offers that properties priced under $500,000 often attract, but it’s what he believes to be a luxury class property well within the price range of plenty of potential buyers. “It’s still doable and it’s not a number that’s high enough that scares people,” he said.
Contact the writer, Don Jergler, at: ReLongBeach@gmail.com
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