Featured image credit: David Jones
Long Beach has big plans in the works for the Queen Mary Hotel, its most iconic attraction, and the surrounding waterfront area. A world-renowned ocean liner, the Queen Mary retired to Long Beach where it has spent several decades operating (off and on) as a hotel. Now, it will serve as a launching point for the city’s ambitious waterfront redevelopment. Long Beach hopes that by upgrading the waterfront, they will be able to attract more businesses inside and outside the tourism industry to join their already-burgeoning network of resident defense and aerospace companies. While the city hasn’t shared any deadlines, it’s reasonable to expect the upgrades will coincide with Long Beach’s prominent position in the fast-approaching 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
Long Beach’s Integral Presence in the 2028 Olympic Games
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With Long Beach about 25 miles south of Downtown Los Angeles, it’s easy to overlook how integral the waterfront city is to the 2028 Olympic Games. However, Long Beach boasts five of the 22 sporting venues selected for the 2028 games. Popular summer games that will take place in Long Beach venues include:
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Swimming
- Water Polo
By completing upgrades to the Queen Mary Hotel and nearby waterfront areas before the 2028 Summer Olympics, Long Beach stands to capitalize on the influx of tourist activity.
A History of Loss
Despite its legendary reputation, the Queen Mary has historically been a money pit for the city of Long Beach. Over the decades, the city sourced management to a series of third-party organizations including the Walt Disney Company, but none managed to reliably turn a profit. Some of these organizations even went bankrupt trying to keep pace with the mounting repairs and maintenance costs to keep the Queen Mary Hotel operational.
From 2007 through 2019, the Queen Mary amassed losses exceeding $31 million. When the hotel shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Long Beach took over operational control, mulling over ideas out of the impasse including sinking the ocean liner. Ultimately, the city decided the best path forward was renovation.
The Return of the Queen Mary Hotel
The systematic renovation of the Queen Mary Hotel sensibly began with the most urgent repairs and maintenance demands. Long Beach coughed up $45 million toward these upgrades which included:
- Dining Areas
- Floors
- Lobby (portions)
- Stairways
With the Queen Mary Hotel once again welcoming guests as of June 2023 and an increased room capacity from 100 to 200, the notable attraction is once again bringing in revenue. Long Beach is counting on that revenue to be significant enough to cover additional upgrades expected throughout the coming years. While guests may not recognize many of these upgrades, they’re happening in the background, phase by phase, and often deep within the innards of the ocean liner.
Lucrative Times for the Queen Mary Hotel
Long Beach’s gamble has thus far paid off. Speaking with CoStar, Dylan Matteson, Director of Experiences for the Queen Mary Hotel, confirmed that visits to the ocean liner have reached pre-pandemic levels. “For tours specifically, we have had 20% more tour guests this past year,” he further clarified. The city also claims that the Queen Mary pulled in positive earnings of approximately $300K per month during the 2023 fiscal year. In short, the city has conjured up an impossible feat that leaves the ship’s purported ghosts paling in comparison.
Further projections indicate an even more lucrative year in 2024. Factoring the neighboring Carnival Cruise dome terminal, area parking accommodations, and the Queen Mary Hotel itself, Long Beach expects the waterfront area to generate over $7 million in profit this year. Naturally, they’d like to strike while the iron’s hot with additional upgrades to guest entry areas among other projects.
Big Changes Coming to the Long Beach Waterfront
Perhaps the most anticipated and ambitious change will happen outside the Queen Mary Hotel. Plans are underway to erect a temporary 10,000-seat amphitheater in an area next to the ocean liner currently used for parking. Ideal for live shows, community use, and, eventually, Olympic needs, the amphitheater is projected to be operational by as early as mid-2025. This temporary amphitheater would be a placeholder for a more permanent solution depending on public response and financial performance.
Additionally, the city is looking into demolishing the long-vacant adjacent commercial center, English Village. Plans call to replace it with a multi-level parking garage as well as open up additional commercial opportunities.
Long Beach seems to have really turned the Queen Mary’s fortunes around, succeeding after years of loss. It brews a strong confidence in their pre-Olympic endeavors. But will the results keep pace with the city’s lofty ambitions?
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