City Council approves turning Park Tower office building into private student housing – Press Telegram

Long Beach has approved turning an underutilized office building into much-needed student housing.

The City Council unanimously approved several actions in a public hearing last week to turn the Park Tower office building, 5150 E. Pacific Coast Highway,  into private student housing, with nearly 600 beds for Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College students.

The project required the council to certify the environmental impact report, approve a general plan amendment and a zone change to convert the commercial office building into a private dormitory.

“We have over 73,000 students in higher education in Long Beach, yet we only have three student housing developments on or off campus in the whole city,” Alison Spindler-Ruiz, planning bureau manager for community development, said during the Nov. 18 council meeting. “When we talk about the need for housing, this is one of the most acute needs, and it’s actually called out in our Housing Element with the state as an area of focus due to that lack of housing.”

The developer plans to reuse the 7-story office building as a private dormitory with 149 student residential suites – serving up to 593 students – with shared housing, a new pavilion building, 364 parking spaces and shared amenities, according to the staff report.

On Sept. 18, the Planning Commission conditionally approved the site plan review for reusing the building and a conditional use permit to allow the special group residence – a private dormitory, city staff said. Commissioners determined that the findings supported creating a dormitory.

The project would include both interior and minor exterior improvements, according to the staff report. The perimeter landscape areas would be repurposed to create new common outdoor space for students, such as a splash pool and outdoor fitness area. The subterranean parking garage would be improved with new electric-vehicle charging stations and parking spaces compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There would also be bicycle parking spaces and bike locks on the first level of the parking garage.

The developer will also explore providing shuttle services, car shares and scooter access, said project planner Gina Casillas.

The first floor of the building would be remodeled and improved to create administrative management offices and various amenity spaces, including a lobby, mail room, kitchen, dining areas, a small study space, and laundry and fitness rooms. The second through 17th floors would be remodeled and improved to create the residential suites.

Long Beach’s existing land use element placetype for the site is currently for community commercial and does not permit residential land uses. In order to facilitate the dormitory use, a general plan amendment was required to change the land use, Casillas said. A zoning code amendment was also required.

Dormitories are subject to special conditions that regulate density location, and consider the possibility of overconcentrated open spaces and whether the site is served by public transit, Casillas said. There are no density limitations in the Zoning Mixed Use Zoning MU-3, and an overconcentration of dormitories does not exist for the site.

There is no operator for the dormitory identified at this time, according to the staff report. As a result, several conditions have been placed to ensure the operation of the land use aligns with the conditional use permit. The project’s environmental impact report also showed no significant impacts.

“The city is coordinating with Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach City College and Long Beach Unified School District through the Housing Promise Initiative, which seeks to address the shortage of student housing by building more public student housing, and by facilitating the development of private dormitories,” Casilla said, “which can also be part of the solution of the student housing shortage.”

The majority of the council backed the project. But residents of the surrounding Park Estates neighborhood did share some concerns about density and parking impact.

City staffers said that while many students do use cars, others are likely to use other forms of transit because of close proximity to public transportation and campuses. Additionally, the city can’t require any parking at the project because of the parking-exempt area under state law, Spindler-Ruiz said.

“Any loss of street parking for nearby businesses can be made up for, hopefully, with the businesses getting more business from the many students that will be living there,” said Third District Councilmember Kristina Duggan, whose district is where the project is located. “I’m supportive of this project, and I’m asking my council colleagues to support this for student housing that would be in District 3.”

Councilmember Daryl Supernaw, representing the Park Estates neighborhood, asked city staff to consider precautions for safety along Pacific Coast Highway, and also introduced maps documenting the neighborhood parking impacts and the preferred shuttle route to CSULB for his constituents.

The Long Beach City Council approved a series of legislative actions to support the project’s approval for the proposed private student housing development with a 6-0 vote.

“To be able to provide housing for students at Cal State Long Beach is a big win for us,” Councilmember Mary Zendejas said. “I know so many lives are going to be transformed by this.”