Harbor Yard, the $92M affordable housing project in Central Long Beach, nears completion

Harbor Yard—the massive, $92M affordable housing development at 2400 Long Beach Blvd.—is nearing completion as crews finally add the final touches after breaking ground in early 2023.

So what is Harbor Yard in Central Long Beach?

Harbor Yard Apartments is an affordable housing project developed by Meta Housing. It combines three parcels— 2400, 2450, and 2490 Long Beach Blvd.—into a singular stretch of 194 units. There will be 96 one-bedrooms; 50 two-bedrooms; and 48 three-bedrooms. 20 units each will go to those earning 30% or 50% of the average median income. 72 units are set aside for those earning 60% of the median income. And 80 units will go to those earning 70% of the average median income.

Meta is no stranger to the Long Beach world of affordable housing. They are in the midst of constructing another Long Beach Boulevard project at 1400. They’re leading The Cove, a 90-unit veteran-centric housing project at 2121 W. Williams St. at Century Villages (which they also developed and completed in 2015). They built and completed a 49-unit, 80% affordable complex at 2355 Long Beach Blvd., just south of the project headlining this article, in 2010. They led the development of the senior-meets-formerly homeless-meets-special needs project at 2114 Long Beach Blvd., a 41-unit project completed in 2015. And they completed Anchor Place in 201, a 120-unit residential project at 2000 River Ave.

Announced in 2018—with a former design that was highly different than the final aesthetic seen here—and formally approved in 2022, 2400 Long Beach Blvd.’s pace has been impressive.

Why did Harbor Yard cost $92M?

So why does an affordable housing project like this cost more than the 17-story Current development in DTLB? Well, many factors—but the largest is labor. In order to score federal and state funds to supplement capital, developers are required to use unionized labor. And they are the most expensive in the state, easily tripling or quadrupling labor costs. In the case of Harbor Yard, over 55% of its budget went solely to construction cost and labor.

• Land and Acquisition: $11,087,617
• Construction Costs: $51,700,331
• Construction Hard Cost Contingency: $4,525,753
• Soft Cost Contingency: $500,000
• Architectural/Engineering: $2,172,720
• Construction Interest/Permanent Financing: $6,317,232
• Legal Fees: $295,000
• Reserves: $760,613
• Other Costs: $4,577,880
• Developer Fee: $10,077,948
• Total: $92,015,094

The larger conversation surrounding affordable housing in Long Beach and beyond

The more considerable discussion surrounding affordable housing and affordability within housing—two separate concepts—is coming to an apex not just in Long Beach but in California as it continues to see housing supply dwindle and costs skyrocket. On the one hand, you have what I call “Affordable Housing with a Capital A,” that is, housing directly connected to the federal definition of poverty, meaning a family has to make a certain percentage of the median income within an area to access it.

This project, as stated, is catering to families that make up between 30% and 70% of the area’s median income. Low-Income families are federally defined as earning 80% or less of the median income within a given area; it goes down from there to Very Low-Income (30-50% of the average median income) and Extremely Low-Income (<30% of the average median income).

Within Long Beach, there have been delays and steps forward: Its inclusionary housing ordinance, which requires housing developers of market-rate complexes to either include affordable units or contribute to an affordable housing fund, was just recently passed. 

However, given the delay in its passing, the massive development boom across the city has waived the ordinance’s requirements since the projects were entitled before the City Council passed the ordinance. Had the ordinance been passed, say, five years beforehand, it is likely that either hundreds of affordable units would have been constructed in addition to the