Manhattan Beach OKs Plan for Seniors Housing

Four private investors have cleared a major hurdle in their plan to construct Manhattan Beach’s first senior citizen housing on the site of a former athletic club.

City Council members Tuesday unanimously approved the zoning change needed to build 48 one-bedroom apartments on a one-acre site on Sepulveda Boulevard across from Manhattan Village Mall.

“It’s an historic occasion,” said Millie Anderson, president of the Manhattan Beach Senior Housing Foundation. “It’s so exciting to think we’re actually going to get something built.”

After the vote, Anderson and Councilman Bob Holmes, a supporter of the project, said the plan does not go far enough in meeting the needs of the city’s growing number of seniors. A city-sponsored survey in 1987 found that there was an immediate demand for at least 159 senior housing units.

Moreover, the two said the apartments slated to be built will not serve those elderly people who must subsist on a small pension or a Social Security check. The project’s investors have said that although they expect to subsidize rents to some extent, the housing will be geared toward seniors with significant financial resources. Rents are expected to range between $600 and $700.

However, Holmes said the project should help alleviate the opposition some residents have expressed to subsidized senior housing being built in the city.

The project will be built entirely with private money.

“I think once people see some nice seniors’ housing in place, so much of the unnecessary fear is going to go away,” Holmes said.

Over the years, various proposals to build senior housing have either been abandoned or placed on hold. The high price of property, as well as community resistance to subsidized housing, have been major stumbling blocks.

Separate Zoning Classification

To facilitate construction, the council last year passed an ordinance that places senior housing in a separate zoning classification. Under that classification, the housing can be built with lower minimum-square-footage requirements and fewer parking spaces than other apartment complexes.

Any property zoned for senior housing would have to be rezoned before it could be used for another use, including apartments available to all age groups.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, a handful of residents voiced concerns over the project’s impact on the neighborhood. Several said they feared that the apartments could increase the area’s traffic and parking problems.

Adele Green, who owns two homes near the planned project, also questioned whether city regulations were tight enough to prevent people other than seniors from living in the apartments. City law requires that the head of each household be at least 62 but would not prevent younger people from living there.

“What is to keep younger people from living in the project?” Green asked council members.

Council members countered that because the units will be small, it is unlikely that they will attract families. Plans call for each apartment to have slightly more than 500 square feet of living space.

The project site includes the former Manhattan Athletic Club for Men. It is bounded by Valley Drive, Manhattan Beach Parkway, Sepulveda Boulevard and the intersection of Elm Avenue and Valley Drive.

Once the vacant athletic club is razed, plans call for the construction of four two-story buildings. William Riddle, one of the investors, said construction could start within nine months and be completed a year later.

Besides Riddle, the other investors include Jason Lane, Ivano Stamegna and Donna Ross.