February 14 – The remodeling of the Long Beach Arena is one step closer to becoming a reality as councilmembers approved $5 million in funding for the project at the February 7 Long Beach City Council meeting. “This will give our complex the ability to have a 45,000-square-foot, loft-style ballroom, which many other competing centers currently have in place,” Steve Goodling, president and CEO of the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said in an e-mail to the Business Journal. “In addition, it will also permit us to attract more concerts that want an intimate environment without views of [the] upper seating. . . . This further additional ‘purposing’ of the arena will be a great help in continuing to attract extra business to our city that previously had to overlook us.” Because the Arena is within the city’s tidelands area, the project is slated to go before the California State Land Commission for approval at its next board meeting being held some time in late March or May. (Rendering by HKS)