Beach Business Bank has partially repaid the $6 million in TARP money it had received during the credit crisis.

The Manhattan Beach community bank, which received Troubled Asset Relief Program money in January 2009, said it paid $1.5 million on Wednesday to repurchase 1,500 of the 6,000 shares of preferred stock it issued to the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The payment included an accrued dividend.

The Treasury still owns $4.5 million of the bank’s series A preferred stock, as well as 300 shares of series B preferred stock. The bank will continue to pay dividends on the remaining shares, it said.

“This repurchase is the first step as our bank completes its plan to repurchase all of the remaining shares … subject to regulatory approval,” Chairman James Gray said in a statement.

Shares closed unchanged at $6 on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.