The Century Villages at Cabrillo, a large affordable housing complex located 2.5 miles northwest of Downtown Long Beach, is poised for a major expansion.

According to an initial study published by the City of Long Beach, Century Housing Corp. - the operator of the Villages at Cabrillo - is initiating a specific plan to allow for the redevelopment of many of the original 1950s buildings on the 27-acre site - located just north of Pacific Coast Highway and immediately east of the Terminal Island Freeway. 

Plans call for the demolition of 215 existing apartments and 27,000 square feet of ancillary uses to make way for the construction of:

  • 750 apartments;
  • 77,000 square feet of amenities;
  • 15,000 square feet of educational uses;
  • 17,000 square feet of commercial space; and
  • 48,000 square feet of administrative and supportive services.

The completed project would result in a total of 1,380 affordable housing units - an approximately 63 percent increase from the 845 apartments that comprise the Villages today.

In addition to bringing larger buildings to the property, the proposed specific plan also calls for rearranging the layout of the campus.  Existing "superblocks" would be bisected by new streets, and a network of pedestrian and bicycle paths would connect the property with the surrounding neighborhood.

Construction is expected to occur in multiple phases over a 10-year period between 2023 and 2033.

The origins of the Century Villages date to the early 1950s, when the property was originally developed as housing to serve employees of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.  The closure of the shipyard in 1997 resulted in the transfer of approximately 140 acres of land to the City of Los Beach - including the Villages.

While the specific plan would represent the most significant change to the Century Villages in decades, not all buildings on the property date to the 1950s.  Anchor Place, featuring 120 units of supportive housing, opened along River Road in 2017.

Interested in finding affordable housing? Visit housing.lacity.org.