Rendering vs. Reality: Affordable and supportive housing in Midtown Long Beach

In a ceremony held yesterday, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and developer Linc Housing marked the completion of Spark at Midtown, a mixed-use affordable housing complex near the Metro A Line's PCH Station.

Located on a corner lot at 1900 Long Beach Boulevard, the project consists of a five-story edifice featuring 95 apartments for low-income families and formerly homeless persons.  At street level, the podium-type building includes new space for the YMCA of Greater Long Beach Community Development Branch's Youth Institute and Change Agent Productions, as well as a health clinic run by Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center.  A third space, currently vacant, is slated for a local restaurant.

"Our efforts to address and expand affordable housing opportunities across all parts of Long Beach continue to be successful," said Garcia in prepared remarks. "This development will provide affordable homes, address housing insecurity and help ignite the revitalization of the Long Beach Boulevard corridor."

The apartments within the Spark development include a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, targeted at households earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income.  The project's supportive units will be complemented on-site case management services.

Rents for the apartments range from $415 to $545 for one bedroom units, $654 to $1,309 for two bedroom units, and $756 to $1,512 for three bedroom units.

Designed by a team that included City Fabrick, D33 Design, and WHA Architects, Spark features a street-level pocket park - which is open to the public - as well as a community room, space for after-school programs, a demonstration kitchen, meeting space, and a courtyard for residents.

Linc, which is headquartered in Long Beach, is also developing another supportive housing complex a half-mile west along Pacific Coast Highway.  The non-profit developer's other ongoing projects include new housing in Historic Filipinotown, Inglewood, and Watts.

• Spark at Midtown (Urbanize LA)