Beach Cities Health District adapts Healthy Living Campus plans after $30 M bond failure – Daily Breeze

The Beach Cities Health District is moving forward with its major overhaul in a slightly different way than expected, officials at the public health agency said this week.

BCHD, which provides physical, mental and medical wellness programs in the South Bay’s beach cities, may build some aspects of its upcoming Healthy Living Campus in existing properties rather than construct all new facilities as initially planned, and is also looking at new opportunities for the future of the site’s old hospital building.

The changes come as BCHD adapts to the failure of a November bond measure that was meant to bring in $30 million for the construction of a new allcove youth mental health center facility, a public outdoor space on the campus and more. Plans to develop an assisted living facility for seniors have also been nixed.

BCHD’s board of directors voted unanimously at a board meeting this week to approve a lease to relocate the agency’s Center for Health and Fitness from the second floor of the building at 514 N. Prospect Ave., to the third floor of 510 N. Prospect Ave. late next year. It also set a March 2027 move out date for all entities in the building at 514 N. Prospect Ave.

The more than 60-year-old hospital building that houses many of BCHD’s programs, including allcove, at 514, was already set to be demolished eventually as part of the Healthy Living Campus Project because of seismic safety concerns.

BCHD CEO Tom Bakaly said that the roadblock has turned out to be a push in the direction the district always wanted to head for the project, growing by using what the district already has instead of waiting for more.

“I think it’s a blank slate for part of the campus,” Bakaly said during the board meeting this week, “but we’ll also be able to implement parts of plan we’ve been working on for years.”

Plans for the Healthy Living Campus have been in the works for 13 years.

Bakaly said in November that the district would have to work on other opportunities to bridge the financial gap without the bond measure. Five months later, officials and staff have come up with new ways to move forward.

The developer that was meant to build an assisted living facility on the campus has also withdrawn its bid, Bakaly said, so something else, like a medical office, behavioral health center or affordable housing for seniors, could go there.

“It opens the opportunity now for more than health uses,” Bakaly said in an interview this week.

With affordable housing, for example, “there’s a direct connection between housing and people’s health.”

The district will talk with the community about their desires and have strategic planning meetings to come up with what will go in place of the fallen-through development, he added.

BCHD has already received nearly $7 million in state and federal grants to build the new allcove center, Bakaly has said, which now may be used to relocate the youth mental health center to another BCHD property, like the AdventurePlex child center.

The bond funding would have allowed the agency to complete the allcove structure, connect the site to the main campus and develop an open green space, build parking,and cover planning, architecture and engineering.

If the agency can raise $6 million in the next year, Bakaly said, it can move forward with plans to build the standalone allcove facility. If not, the move to AdventurePlex will be considered, along with what that would mean for the programs that take place there like seasonal camps and child care.

A to-be-determined developer of whatever will replace the 514 building will hopefully demolish the old building as part of their overall project, Bakaly said.

The district recently got the results of an affordable housing feasibility study, which reported that 514 N. Prospect Ave. is an ideal location for residential or commercial development. Senior and affordable housing would be ideal, the study reads, because all the affordable units for seniors are currently occupied with some at risk of rents rising to market rates.

BCHD is also working to figure out where its Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly will go on the campus, aiming to find a provider that will be a long-term tenant in the 510 building.