The new owners of the Queen Mary are planning a marina, an onshore amusement park, a hotel and an office building near the landmark ocean liner.

Plans are still in the early stages. In fact, artists’ renderings of the project are four to six weeks away from public view, according to Mike Murchison, spokesman for Save the Queen LLC, the investment group that bought a lease for the 74-year-old ship and an adjacent 45 acres in a bankruptcy court last November.

He declined to give many details because his group will explain more in a private meeting with Long Beach city officials this week, but Murchison said the amusement park would have rides, movie theaters, restaurants and themed retail stores. The marina would feature 200 slips, including large spaces for yachts and commercial vessels. The office building would have 200,000 square feet for maritime or port-related companies as tenants. The complex is to be called Queen Mary Island.

Murchison expects a 28-month entitlement process and hopes for a groundbreaking in early 2011.

“We’re trying to do as much community outreach to Long Beach and surrounding cities – not an easy task,” he explained. He said any project at the site had to be a good fit with the ship.

“We are in full support of the development of the property, which quite honestly has never lived up to its potential,” said Randy Gordon, president of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. “This developer is the real thing. And that real estate on the waterfront is precious – there’s not much of it left.”

The ship’s former lease-holder, Queen’s Seaport Development Inc., declared bankruptcy three years ago. The new group, called STQ, paid $43 million to buy the lease, which was originally written in 1996 and ran for 66 years.

STQ is headed by Jeffrey Klein, a real estate owner from Newport Beach who is president of Fletcher Development Co. and Pacific Capital Development. His financial partner is the Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm with more than $80 billion under management.

Since taking over the lease in November, STQ has started renovation work on the ship with new carpet, new paint and new cooling systems. Also, the company has hired Chicago-based hotel management firm Hostmark Hospitality Group to run the day-to-day operations of the Queen Mary.

“The city is pleased with the progress our tenant has made in learning how to operate an historic ship,” said Amy Bodek, manager of the Redevelopment Bureau at Long Beach City Hall. “The visitor probably wouldn’t notice the improvements yet, because they have been managerial in nature. Our new tenant is charged with coming up with a plan that makes financial sense, helps the city, and falls with the restrictions of California Tidelands.”

The land and the ship belong to the city of Long Beach, held in trust for the people of California. Laws block the city from selling the land, and any development must allow public access for water-related activities, including fishing, shipping, boating and tourism. That means limited retail, and a ban on any residential development.

The ship was retired in 1967 and permanently anchored at Long Beach. It was launched in 1936 and ferried passengers from the United Kingdom to New York.

Any big development will create traffic, and to address those concerns, STQ plans to apply for federal grants to develop public transportation to bring people to the area.