Los Angeles County has taken a major step toward expanding permanent affordable housing in Downtown Long Beach. It has approved the acquisition of a vacant parcel at 1101 Long Beach Boulevard for a future 160-unit development, as first reported by Urbanize LA.
On Nov. 12, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors authorized the purchase of the 0.65-acre site. It is part of the County’s CEO-Homeless Initiative Land Bank Pilot Program, a strategy designed to secure land in neighborhoods facing rapid gentrification and displacement before housing opportunities are lost. The property at 1101 Long Beach Blvd. previously housed an abandoned building. It caught fire in 2019 mid-demolition after its tenants were evicted. It was supposed to become a 120-unit market-rate housing development before its entitlement was lost.
Construction is anticipated to take approximately 24 months, with work typical of a small urban infill site. The final building design and unit mix have not yet been determined. But the project is expected to include on-site management, minor landscaping, and low-level security lighting. Subsurface parking is not currently planned, and staging would largely occur on-site.
The acquisition marks an early phase of the project’s life cycle. Future actions by the County may include entering into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a development partner. Executing a long-term ground lease. And approving funding packages. Together, those steps would move the Long Beach Boulevard site from land banking to construction. And then it would transform a long-vacant parcel into one of Downtown Long Beach’s most significant new affordable housing developments…