Harbor Panel Leases Building to Homeless Agency in Land Swap

Fulfilling a lease-swap agreement, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has voted to lease a second building to a nonprofit agency planning to build a homeless center, a port spokesman said.

The port will lease the buildings on 12th Street to the San Diego-based Alpha Project, which in return is handing over leasing rights to a parcel of the former Long Beach Naval Station, said spokesman Art Wong. Alpha had obtained the right to lease the property close to Navy Way and Ocean Boulevard after the station’s closure two years ago.

A federal law governing closure of bases gives priority in negotiating leases to homeless charities, Wong said. The land stands at an important access route for trains and trucks that will leave proposed shipping terminals at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, he said.

This week’s board meeting vote fulfills a 1996 agreement between the port and Alpha, Wong said. The homeless agency will pay $1 a month to rent 1.3 acres.

The planned center will house agencies offering job training, referrals for drug and alcohol counseling, mailboxes, health care screenings and AIDS counseling for the homeless, Wong said. The center will provide day care for homeless children, but there will be no feeding or sleeping facilities for adults, he said.