Beach Cities Health District names a developer for post-hospital project

by Garth Meyer

The Beach Cities Health District board has chosen a preferred partner to develop half of its 11-acre Redondo Beach campus, shaping the post-hospital era of the land.

A proposal by Mar Ventures and Continental Development Corporation (El Segundo) was picked during a Nov. 19 study session, over two other finalists, and eight total submissions.

The BCHD put out a request in August for ideas on how to proceed on 4.5 acres of the property, with the option to tear down the closed 1960 hospital.

BCHD Chief Executive Tom Bakaly and staff now pursue a ground lease agreement, to report back to the board in January.

Mar Ventures/Continental’s plan, reviewed by a BCHD consultant and advisory working group, is to build a 217-unit residential eldercare facility and a separate medical services building.

They would tear the hospital down, the private entity paying for it. 

The ground lease agreement adds up to $9 million total for the BCHD in the first ten years of the deal.

The slated residential units span independent living to skilled nursing and memory care. The medical office building would be 60 feet high. Today, the tallest structure on campus is 76 feet – the very top of the hospital. A previously proposed project for the campus, which garnered a certified Environmental Impact Report in 2021, would have reached 103 feet. 

The new proposal also adds an outdoor theater, art gallery, walking paths, a community garden and outdoor event space – such as for farmers’ markets and yoga.

A ground lease means the land remains owned by the public. The BCHD has made these kind of agreements for 54 years with campus tenants, drawing revenue for the health district’s programs and services. 

Mar Ventures/Continental’s design followed parameters shaped by previous community feedback on density, building height, open space and accessibility. The new development is aimed as a cohesive addition to the existing campus. 

Last November, after a failed bond measure, the BCHD board reconvened to seek developers’ interest for the old South Bay hospital building and its ground-level parking lot to the north. 

The three finalists all proposed long-term care for the elderly. Two of them also proposed a new medical office building. All three of the applicants would have torn down the former hospital building.The BCHD has maintained that the building is unsafe due to seismic concerns.

“Our goal is to develop a plan that honors BCHD’s mission, ensures long-term sustainability, and reflects the ideas and values shared by our community,” CEO Bakaly said in October. “All while creating sustainable revenue to support BCHD services, and to address the seismic safety of the (old hospital) building.”

The three finalists were MarVentures/Continental Development (El Segundo), NexCore (Denver) and Sunrise Senior Living (Oakton, Virginia). 

A more extensive 2021 BCHD plan to develop the campus was for PMB of Solana Beach, Calif., to build a large assisted living facility along the north edge of the campus, to include a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). The BCHD’s Center for Health and Fitness thus was going to move off-campus while the hospital was torn down. The Center would later return to the campus in a new building. 

Instead, the Center for Health and Fitness gym will now move from its present location in the former hospital building to the top floor of the adjacent 510 building.