Soft Story Retrofit in Long Beach, CA
Seismic retrofit contractor for Long Beach's wood-frame apartment buildings. CSLB License #1141734.
If you own an older Long Beach apartment building, there is a decent chance the city has already written to you: about 3,100 buildings with potential soft, weak, or open-front conditions are on the city's inventory, with owner notices mailed in August 2024 and April 2025. Long Beach's program is voluntary today, with no compliance deadlines, and the city has said openly that it may consider mandates later. Owners get to choose which side of that line to be on.
What the Long Beach Program Is Today
The city’s Building Seismic Resiliency Program identifies multistory wood-frame buildings built before 1978 with three or more units and asks owners to verify their building’s information through a screening form. There is no required timeline. What the letters really are is the inventory a future mandate would run on, which is exactly how Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Culver City began.
The Case for Retrofitting on Your Own Terms
- A voluntary project runs on your calendar: engineering, permits, and construction scheduled around your building, not around a compliance order.
- Financing help exists now: state grant programs for qualifying smaller buildings, SBA disaster loan increases for mitigation upgrades, and state-supported private financing. Windows open and close, and we flag what is live when you start.
- Long Beach sits on the same fault systems as the rest of the basin. The letter changes your legal exposure; the ground never needed it.
Long Beach Soft Story FAQs
Not today. The program is voluntary and the letter mainly asks you to verify the building’s information. It also tells you the city knows about your building, which matters the day a mandate arrives.
Yes. Correcting the record is free and keeps a building that does not belong on the list from being treated as if it does. We can look at the building before you respond so the form reflects reality.
Based on neighboring cities: served notices, fixed deadlines for plans, permits, and construction, and penalties behind them. Retrofitting voluntarily now means a future mandate finds your building already done, with the permits to prove it.
Why Owners Choose CalPrime
- Licensed, bonded, and insured. CSLB License #1141734.
- One team from assessment through final city sign-off: engineering plans, permits, construction, and inspections.
- Tenants stay in place. We stage the work around parking areas and keep the building occupied.
- A line-item estimate from a free site walk before you commit to anything
Start With a Free Building Assessment
Send us your property address and we will check your building’s status with the city, walk the site, and give you a clear scope and estimate. No cost, no obligation.