By Steffen Vukojevich
Staff Writer
The Queen Mary and the surrounding area may be getting a facelift in the near future.
Urban Commons, which took ownership of the docked ocean liner last year, already revealed plans to extensively renovate the ship itself.
There are also hopes to add a retail, dining and entertainment district on the 65-acre area surrounding the ship, which is not far from Carson in nearby Long Beach.
According to Curbed Los Angeles, the proposed attraction will be called “Queen Mary Island” and will include live music, waterfront restaurants, and a new 200-room hotel.
The proposed plan also includes an area for adrenaline junkies: “Urban Adventures,” would feature an indoor surf area, zip lines, a trampoline park and California’s first indoor ice-climbing wall.
There are also extensive plans to renovate the historic ocean liner, which suffers from rust and other ravages of age and time.
Nevertheless, the idea is to get more tourists to downtown Long Beach.
Whether it is to visit the Queen Mary, go speeding down a zipline or to simply relax and enjoy the live music being played at one of the newly opened restaurants, it is Urban Common’s hope the attraction becomes “the new year-round social epicenter of Long Beach.”
