Long Beach’s decade-old Civic Center project entered its last chapter with a controversial decision Tuesday night, after the city council approved 729 residential units with an exemption from the City’s affordable housing mandate.
The Mid-Block project is the last piece of a public/private partnership passed in 2016 that involved the swapping of several properties between the City and private developers. The project transformed downtown and resulted in the following developments:
- New City Hall
- New Port Administration Building
- New Main Library (Billie Jean King Main Library)
- New Lincoln Park
- Mid-Block project
- 163-unit residential project at 230 W. Third St. (former City Hall lot)
- Public safety parking garage at 115 Chestnut Ave.
In 2020, plans for the Mid-Block project were approved by the Planning Commission and included 580 units, 58 of which were slated for moderate-income renters, according to City documents. Moderate-income housing is for those who earn between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income. The median income in Los Angeles County in 2025 was $106,600.
To afford a moderate-income unit, someone would have to make between $85,280 and $127,920.
Since then, the City has established an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, requiring new developments to have 12% of its units available for low and very low-income renters. On March 19, the Planning Commission decided that since the Mid-Block project is “not truly a new project,” its developers can be exempt from the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. They suggested the city council make the same exemption Tuesday night, which they ultimately did unanimously.
A handful of residents spoke against this exemption, citing the need for affordable housing, the city’s homelessness crisis and the 16% of homeless residents who said they became homeless due to an eviction in the 2025 Point in Time Count.
“We all know that we have a state of crisis with our homelessness problem in Long Beach, we know that renters can barely make rent, that’s one of the biggest reasons people end up on the streets,” said Long Beach resident Michael Gray. “This should be completely redone. If you all do your normal approval of this, what you’re saying is, ‘Forget the homeless, forget the people that are on the margins, it’s our city and we want the people who can afford moderate income units to be there.’”
The 729 units will be built as two eight-story buildings with the following breakdown:
- 20 studios
- 529 one-bedroom units
- 130 two-bedroom units
- 50 three-bedroom units
Mayor Rex Richardson said the City is furthest behind on the development of moderate-income level housing, according to state and regional housing mandates. He also said the City would need to pay for each unit of low-income housing in the Mid-Block project, but did not clarify if this is only due to the fact that they are granting the developer an exemption from the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Richardson said. According to Community Development Director Christopher Koontz, each low-income unit would cost the City roughly $50,000, and the City doesn’t have the funds to offset that cost.
“A legal requirement to provide low and very low-income housing is one of the few protections people have to keep them from sliding into homelessness,” a resident who did not give their name said at the meeting. “What may seem like a minor adjustment on paper, or to people with privilege, can actually have a huge impact on people’s lives.”
Due to rising costs of building materials, a lack of demand for downtown retail space post-COVID and an incompatible street design with the new park and library, nearly every aspect of the Mid-Block project had to change. The original design included 70 more parking spaces and retail space on the floor level shrunk from 40,000 square feet to 2,651.
The City is also deferring $1.7 million in development fees, which are fees the City collects from developers in order to build in Long Beach. These funds typically go to public projects such as street improvements and infrastructure. The $1.7 million will be collected when the project is completed.
According to City documents, this deferment is because the City requested the developer to extend the fire lane on Cedar Avenue during the first phase of construction, resulting in “significant costs to the developer that would be difficult or impossible to finance.”
Samantha Diaz
Managing Editor
Samantha is an award-winning journalist, sports fanatic and mother. She’s worked for the Signal Tribune for over three years and is passionate about covering environmental news, small businesses, mutual aid efforts and resources.
