A former privately-owned five-story building in Downtown Long Beach will be doing triple duty as a senior center, a crime analysis lab and additional office space for city workers.
Long Beach City Council unanimously approved the $21 million purchase of the 286,334-square-foot former Southern California Edison service center, located at 125 Elm Ave. Tuesday night due to its wide range of possible uses. City staff estimates it will cost another $23.3 million in renovations to prepare the facility for full use, and $150,000 in transaction costs.
“I’m super excited to be receiving and welcoming the senior center in my district,” said councilmember Mary Zendejas. “I believe city staff will work with the community to learn what they recommend. I believe that those who are seniors know what is needed for senior adults and I’m looking forward to that collaboration.”
Most of the funding is provided by Measure A general funds ($32 million) as well as the Energy Resources Department’s gas fund group ($12.2 million). The general funds include a one-time bond ($19.6 million) that the City will have to pay back over 30 years.
The bond will be paid back in part with the money that will be saved from ending the LBPD’s crime lab lease and from not having to renovate administrative offices for the energy department.
The first floor of the property will be used for a new senior center, which will include several multi-purpose rooms, a community room, a small restaurant as well as office spaces for the center and Health Department staff.
The current senior center at 1150 E. 4th Street was purchased by the City in 1977 and received major renovations in 1998 and 2002, but has long struggled with issues of parking and infrastructure. The most recent improvements were made in 2006 to repair the heating and air conditioning system and roof, according to the City’s website.
There are also five satellite senior centers throughout the city: California Recreation Center at 1550 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.; Chavez Park at 401 Golden Ave.; El Dorado Park West at 2800 Studebaker Rd.; Houghton Park at 6301 Myrtle Ave.; Silverado Park Senior Center at 1545 W. 31st Street.
City Manager Tom Modica said that it will cost the City less, in the long run, to move the senior center to the new building rather than renovate the old one. Long Beach resident and member of Long Beach Gray Panthers Karen Reside expressed concern about moving the center downtown, citing safety issues.
“We would like to know how many seniors were consulted about having a senior center at this particular location,” Reside said. “The [Long Beach] Gray Panthers feel it doesn’t meet the needs for safety and size.”
The staff report says that there have been no plans for the design or demolition of the proposed building as of yet. Modica said that residents will be invited into the planning process for the senior center. He also said that the crime lab will have its own entrance separate from the senior center.
The third floor of the building will be housed by LBPD while the fourth will provide offices and training space for the staff and a call center for the energy resource department.
The Long Beach Police Department has been leasing out a space on Canal Avenue in West Long Beach for a “crime lab and a portion of its property detail functions,” for over 20 years, according to a staff report. The report states that “the current space has become inadequate and significant investment would be required … to accommodate the needs.”
Tuesday night’s purchase and sale agreement will allow the LBPD to discontinue its lease from the privately-owned property.
Long Beach council approved the City’s purchase of the five-story vacant building 8-0.
Why was there no community outreach before this purchase was made? Measure A funds are taxes, so yeah, we’ll be paying for this. And how do you know those bonds will get sold? This is the same council that sold our civic center and forced us to lease it back, that gave Community Hospital away? Whose interests does this serve, aside from LBPD and the city?