Affordable senior complex fetches $65.5M in Long Beach

A Culver City-based affordable housing specialist has purchased a complex for seniors in Long Beach for $66.5 million.

Century Housing bought the 296-unit complex at 3333 Pacific Place in the Wrigley area of the city of 500,000 in a deal with an unnamed seller, according to a Tuesday announcement.

Records show the prior owner was a limited liability company linked to LOMCO — a Southern California-based developer focused on affordable senior housing.

Century Housing bought the complex using two series of tax-exempt bonds — a $48 million public bond issued by Wells Fargo and a $21 million private placement sold to Barclays.

Under Century Housing, the complex will continue to provide low income seniors with affordable living “at a time when inflation is disproportionately affecting those on fixed incomes,” Brian D’Andrea, the head of Century Housing’s affordable development division, said in a statement.

Units at the complex are available to senior households with no more than 60 percent of the area’s median income. In Long Beach, the median income from 2015 to 2019 was $63,017, according to census data. That would cap eligibility at the complex to households with income of around $37,000 annually.

The complex was renovated in 2015 and includes a number of amenities, including a fitness center, library, rooftop deck and community room.

The deal comes as the city of Long Beach pushes to change some of its inclusionary housing laws, which requires developers to either include a percentage of deed-restricted affordable units in their new developments or to pay into a pool to fund affordable units elsewhere across the city.

In November, the city council asked city staff and the city attorney to draw up changes to the municipal ordinance, including proposals to restrict the housing fund to very low-income housing — no more than 50 percent of area median income.