by Garth Meyer
The Beach Cities Health District and Sunrise Senior Living are on their way to redeveloping the 11-acre hilltop BCHD campus in Redondo Beach.
The choice of Sunrise by the BCHD board at their May 27 meeting means that approximately 100 Silverado Memory Care tenants living in the former South Bay Hospital building will need to move out in the next year.
The old hospital is to be demolished.
Public comment at the board meeting began after a “Mindful Moment.”
Tom Bakaly, BCHD chief executive, first laid out some of the reasons that a previous proposal to build Silverado a new building on the campus was rejected.
“We’re not required to take down the (old hospital), because it’s not technically a hospital…” Bakaly said. “About 100 older adults would not be able to evacuate themselves in the event of a collapse.”
He told the crowd that the Mar Ventures/Continental Development/Silverado “deal changed from what was proposed” last fall when the District sought expressions of interest.
Last December, Bakaly signed a letter drafted by Silverado CEO Loren Shook assuring the public that people could move into Silverado “with confidence,” that it will remain on the campus.
At that time, Bakaly explained, he thought a deal with Silverado was imminent.
“The letter shows the commitment that I had to making that work,” he said.
“At this point, I don’t believe the deal can be done… The terms changed, the time dragged on and we made the switch (to Sunrise),” he said.
BCHD architect Sarah Meeker Jensen, of Avard Daniels Architects, who evaluated UCLA buildings after the Northridge earthquake, also considered the old South Bay Hospital.
“This is an entire class of buildings that the City of Los Angeles has essentially condemned,” she said.
In public comment, family members of Silverado residents spoke.
Jennifer Aust talked of her father, Pat Aust, former Redondo Beach fire chief, city councilmember and BCHD boardmember.
“For once he can’t fight, so I’m going to try,” she said, asking the board to delay their decision.
Nicole Purohit said BCHD “is a public health entity with a public health mission.”
Another woman said, “BCHD betrayed us…. I can’t say it more simply — The chaos you will cause hundreds of families.”
The medical director of Silverado talked about its clinical model, and CEO Shook noted, “We’re experts at evacuating our people. We have done many wildfire evacuations.”
“We are happy to work with Mar Ventures, or Sunrise,” he said.
“There is no imminent seismic threat,” he said of the old hospital, citing a study by MHP Structural Engineers of Long Beach.
Former Redondo Beach City Councilman Christian Horvath, whose father-in-law lives at Silverado, said,
“I believe they serve complimentary roles in the continuum of care,” he said. “… Allow a separate ground lease for Silverado.”
Michele Charfen spoke of Pat Aust, her father’s Silverado roommate. “Someone who has served as your own boardmember, a city councilman and fire chief, can’t stay in the community.”
Silverado families maintain the facility accepts memory care patients that other senior assisted living places do not.
“I urge you to not think of this as a redevelopment opportunity, but to preserve a crucial service to our elderly,” a speaker said.
Another said, “There are three MDs on the (BCHD) board. First, do no harm.”
Campbell Lee, a Silverado employee said, “Environment directly impacts quality of life.”
A woman whose mother is in Silverado’s day program added, “The quality of the employees is shockingly high…. Memory care is something you don’t think about until it strikes your family, then it’s all you think about.”
“I feel like this board switched horses in the middle of the stream,” said another woman.
Another told of how her mother, a resident, has reverted to only speaking the Japanese of her youth, but can communicate that the staff is kind and attentive.
Kylie Charfen-Horvath noted Silverado’s unrestricted visiting hours and that these residents could remain together if Silverado stayed on the campus, where they’ve lived for months or years.
A woman whose uncle is a Silverado resident, said, “Whatever you do, just be honest with yourselves why you’re doing it.”
Bridgett Lewis, a Torrance city councilmember who represents the area immediately east of the BCHD campus, also urged the board to include Silverado in the redevelopment.
A man spoke of his wife, a resident, whom he has been married to for 59 years.
“To interrupt and (move) these residents would be, frankly, wrong,” he said.
Another man: “Stop being managers and start being people. Just think about (this)… delay the decision. We can make a decision as people in power to help a lot of people.”
A nephew of an uncle who recently died at Silverado, praised the residence and said, “My question to you; at this point, why would you be looking to work with anyone other than Silverado?”
Another woman spoke.
“I am troubled by the 180 degree turn from the December letter,” she said.
A man, whose mother is a resident, said, “She’s been as happy as the 50 years I’ve known her.”
He described what was taking place as a “preemptive hand-washing of guilt. Please, try again. Don’t give up.”
Then it was time to hear from the board.
Boardmember Vanessa Poster opened by reading a poem.
She concluded that, “We are here to help you.”
Boardmember Michele Bholat said, “This is a very hard decision… but as a practicing physician” she knows “what families go through.”
“This is not a new issue,” she said, “It’s been talked about since 2008, the Healthy Living Campus… We listened. Everybody on this board has listened. I am sorry that a letter was issued … This board is not going to turn our backs after this vote.”
Boardmember Dr. Noel Lee Chun noted his 16 years on the BCHD board, and that, “This is not a precipitous decision.”
Of the proposed Mar Ventures/Continental/Silverado deal, he said, “It’s complicated and all of the parameters changed.”
Boardmember Dr. Martha Koo asked whether the required move-in deposit at Silverado was refundable, and what the actual percentage is of residents who have families who live in the Beach Cities.
“If this decision is not made tonight, what does that mean?” Koo asked Bakaly.
Shook said the move-in fee is nonrefundable, but it can be transferred to another Silverado location.
He said that more than 90% of residents come from the South Bay, while some of their family members do live farther away.
Koo asked Shook if he had plans to build elsewhere in the South Bay.
“We were hoping to be on this campus…” Shook said. “We aspired to be here. Our hope is to be here. If that is taken away, we will reassess, but it’s not easy to find property in the South Bay and it’s incredibly expensive.”
Bakaly said if the decision was not made that night, the deadline of March 2027 to start demolition on the old hospital would need be extended, and that it would already be moved to May 2027 to allow for the year’s notice for Silverado – a period during which BCHD is committed to giving them free rent.
‘If we do not move forward (tonight), Sunrise would not be interested,” Bakaly said.
He later explained to Easy Reader that he thought Sunrise would likely not have gone forward with their proposal had there been a pause in the board’s decision.
If that scenario came to be, Bakaly said the BCHD would have gone to their third choice from the initial 12 submittals of interest last fall.
Boardmember Jane Diehl asked if both Sunrise and Silverado could exist on the redeveloped campus.
Koo asked if Mar Ventures/Continental/Silverado had come back at all with any new proposal.
Bakaly reported that he received a letter that day, but with no new terms were suggested.
“They backtracked on the timing, the community amenities and the financial aspects of the deal,” he said.
Dhiel made a point that she wished Silverado had “come to talk to us about the Flagler lot; that was a missed opportunity,” referring to where the new youth health facility allcove will be built.
The law requires a six-month notice of evacuation for Silverado residents.
Dhiel said, “I know that moving a resident becomes a huge burden on families, and residents going to a new community (is a detriment). I know Silverado has extremely-caring people.’
“When it comes down to it in healthcare,” Bholat said, “It really does come down to money.”
“You’ve got to figure out a plan and we want to be here to help.”
Aftermath
The day after the meeting, Bakaly spoke to Easy Reader.
He confirmed that the proposed swimming pool on the redeveloped campus, next to Sunrise’s 217-unit assisted living building, would have public access through membership in BCHD’s Center for Health and Fitness, which will move from the old hospital into the 510 building at the campus’ southwest end.
The 510 building will also have PACE (Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), a service for people of lower incomes, run by L.A. Jewish Health.
Sunrise plans for their building to be four to five stories, about 60 feet tall.
In September, they will submit an application for a conditional use permit to the City of Redondo Beach, for permission to build on the property.
No drawings are available yet.
The timeline is to break ground in October 2028, and to have the building complete by 2030.
Silverado’s one-year notice to vacate took effect May 29.
The hospital is to be demolished in fall 2027.
Bakaly noted the free rent and “hopefully (Silverado will) be able to use those funds to help the families relocate.”
BCHD is seismically upgrading the 510 building as part of the $5.6 million remodeling project to move in the Center for Health and Fitness.
Bakaly gave a 15-year budget plan to the board at the May 27 meeting. He said the Sunrise ground lease will replace the revenue previously brought in by leased space in the hospital building.
“One of the things we’ve talked about all along is, what are you going to see to the east of Prospect Avenue? You will see open space, the pool, that is shared-use, green space,” Bakaly said.
“We think this project will be transformational.”
“Sunrise demonstrated their ability to get going on this.”
Questions
Mark Nelson, leader of the grassroots STOPBCHD, a neighbor to the campus and an original member of the BCHD Healthy Living Campus working group from 2017-2020,expressed concerns about the latest proposal, as he did about the two previous redevelopment plans.
Height and setbacks are the main issues, he said.
“All in all, if this were shorter, then I would probably be willing to support the relatively shallow setbacks,” Nelson said.
He points out the current hospital wings are 51.5 feet tall, set back at least 100 feet from “every lot line. So they appear pretty small. For the Torrance folks, the proposed 60 feet tall, only 40 feet away, is pretty invasive.”
“That’s kind of why you saw Bridget Lewis there. A 60-foot building is still 20 percent taller than 99.7 % of the existing campus height.”
Nelson contends that today’s 100-foot setbacks from Prospect Avenue and Flagler Alley are more agreeable than the 40-foot setbacks seen on a BCHD diagram of the proposed Sunrise project.
He concedes that the 510 building is right next to the street “but it’s only 30 feet tall.”
The new proposal replaces the previous redevelopment plan, which would have meant a larger building along the north edge of the campus.
“(This new one’s) not the 103-foot monster that was behind Vons,” Nelson said. “This is a more reasonable height, but still, compared to most of the old hospital, Sunrise is eight feet taller and 60 feet closer to homes.”
“It seems as though he’s speculating off of a conceptual plan,” Bakaly said. “Sunrise will be addressing all of these matters during the conditional-use permit process,” Bakaly said.
The hospital’s tower is 80 feet, he said.
Is 51.5 feet correct for the wings?
“I don’t know,” Bakaly said. “60 feet is well below what was determined in the 2021 EIR (Environmental Impact Report), which said there were no impacts at roughly 80 feet, as far as shading, sightlines and view corridors.”
The hospital wings are four stories, but with higher ceilings, Bakaly noted.
“We listened (to the public) and reduced the height (of previous plans),” he said.
Bakaly said the setbacks will be determined in the conditional use permit phase as well.
Sunrise Senior Living, based in Oakton, Virginia, was founded in 1981. It now operates 240 senior residential locations in the U.S. and Canada. Sunrise has a location in Hermosa Beach and is building one in Manhattan Beach, to open in the second half of 2027.
When asked for comment on the Redondo Beach proposal, the company sent a statement from Alex Onushco, director, strategic communications.
“The project is subject to the city’s review and entitlement process, so specific design elements will continue to be refined,” Onushko said. “We are approaching this work thoughtfully and within the framework of the previously studied environmental review, which helps guide appropriate scale and impact considerations as planning progresses.” ER
