During its meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 15, the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution to seek a waiver from the State Board of Education (SBE) to sell two vacant properties—and potentially develop them in ways that benefit the community.
The two non-educational sites are office buildings at 999 Atlantic Ave. and 4310 Long Beach Blvd.
According to David Miranda, LBUSD’s executive director of facilities, the properties have been vacant for four to seven years and burden the district with ongoing maintenance and security costs.
SBE requires LBUSD to first offer surplus properties to other government agencies before taking open bids from the public for sale or lease, Miranda said. Though other agencies were interested, none made LBUSD an offer, he added.
However, instead of taking open bids on the properties, Miranda said LBUSD can apply to SBE for the waiver in consideration of board feedback last June to use those properties to benefit the community.
If SBE grants the waiver during their next board meeting in March, LBUSD can then issue a request for proposals (RFP) to developers who might transform the properties into “community good” uses such as housing, library or community centers, or medical or mental-health clinics, Miranda said.
Regardless of their intent, LBUSD would evaluate development proposals mainly by the amount bid to purchase the properties. Only 10% of the evaluation criteria is based on the project’s potential use for “greater community good,” according to the resolution.
Local developers and those that are financially sound enough to see the development through would also get some preference in the proposal evaluation process, Miranda said, as would small businesses or disabled veteran-owned businesses.
Miranda said he hoped to present a development recommendation for the LBUSD board to approve by June after a team evaluates proposals during the spring.
In addition to allowing LBUSD to apply for the waiver in January, the resolution allows LBUSD to hire a real estate agent to help market the two properties.
Board Vice President Megan Kerr said that while this alternative process takes longer than an open-bidding process, she appreciates the opportunity to potentially “do good” through it.
“I appreciate staff really listening to this board and wanting not only to get a fair price for properties and do right by taxpayers but to also see if there’s community benefits and enhancements,” Kerr said.
The resolution stems from LBUSD’s longer-term process of evaluating seven of its properties in Long Beach that it considers “surplus,” though only the two considered for the waiver are actually vacant.
The others are various LBUSD administrative offices used for human resources, records management and transportation.
The board agreed to form an asset management committee in 2017, which met during 2019 and 2020 to create a report advising LBUSD to sell off the vacant properties, which the board approved last June.
The committee found that the properties would not be needed for educational purposes, especially since LBUSD enrollment is declining at roughly 2% per year.
