City-Owned Land Proposed for LBCC Student Housing

The City of Long Beach moves closer to creating student housing and mixed-use development for Long Beach City College, taking steps to transfer city-owned land to the college.

City Council came to the resolution at their May 16 meeting, to make steps to transfer the 19,388 square-foot lot to construct mixed-use housing and satellite classrooms as an expansion to LBCC’s nearby higher education center.

“This (holistic) approach aims to build an ecosystem of support, enabling students to access self-advancing resources while addressing housing insecurity,” said Carl Kemp, LBCC’s executive director of public affairs in a May 17 email. “The development of this project will provide a safe environment that supports educational attainment and encompasses students’ basic needs more fully.”

Mayor Rex Richardson first brought the idea to the City Council in 2018 when he was serving as District 9’s representative— requesting the city collaborate with LBCC to develop a center for higher education in North Long Beach.

“This discussion began almost five years ago about originally establishing a more robust presence for higher education in North Long Beach,” Richardson said during the May 16 meeting. “The conversation has bloomed into opportunities to partner with our educational institutions to actually build housing off campus, out in communities.”

News of this motion for development of educational facilities in the north end of the city follows an approved lease in August for a 3,200-square-foot property at 635 South St., the North Long Beach Higher Education Center. The center, which will offer noncredit and certificate courses offered by LBCC and workforce development agency Pacific Gateway, is slated for a late 2023 opening.

The space that sits along Atlantic and Lime avenues bounded by 59th Street looks to have a $32.3 million development resting on it soon.

The college system has campuses in Central and East Long Beach, but the proposed center would be the first on the north side of the city.

“Studies show that geographical location is an important determinant in where people go to school,” Ninth District Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie said at the May 16 meeting, “so making sure that you have education facilities that are close to where people live and work is critical.”

The city will be required to draft and submit a written notice to the California Department of Housing and Community Development regarding the property’s availability and receive a verification of compliance with state housing laws before the college can officially take over the property.

Barring any setbacks or unforeseen hurdles, construction on the project could begin as early as December 2025.