Beach Cities Health District officials have once again scaled back plans for an ambitious redevelopment of its Healthy Living Campus this time by about $160 million.

The local health agency will publicly unveil its new, less-expansive plans for the 11-acre property at a 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, board meeting.

Changes include reducing assisted-living units for older adults to 220 from 420, cutting down construction time and scrapping residential units planned for the east side of campus, near Torrance.

The revamp will cost an estimated $370 million, down from the $530 million the project was estimated to cost last year, said Tom Bakaly, the health districts CEO.

The Beach Cities Health District is a preventative health agency for Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach. The agency, founded in 1955, is a special district that relies on property tax revenue for about a quarter of its income. The rest comes from a mix of rent from leases at its main campus, 514 N. Prospect Ave., in Redondo Beach; program fees; and various partnerships.

In 2017, the district which has more than 40 preventative health programs pitched an idea for a redevelopment of its main property, dubbed the Healthy Living Campus. Initially, construction was slated to begin this year.

But some Redondo Beach and Torrance residentsopposed the original plans, because of concerns over traffic, neighborhood impact, and the length and size of construction.

Responses from the community and consultants urged a more complete financial understanding of the project. That caused district officials todelay construction to 2021. And then, last year, adownsized plan arose.

That smaller plan still didnt satisfy concerns, so the district scaled back the project again to the $370 million plan officials will unveil Wednesday.

For the past three years, Bakaly said in a news release, weve collected more than 1,300 public comments during more than 70 meetings and worked with financial, construction and environmental experts to minimize impacts on local neighborhoods.

After considering the feedback, staff drafted a plan that makes more sense financially, and would create the revenue to maintain BCHDs programs, Bakaly said.

We think its more consistent with what we were hearing, Bakaly said. We are a public agency, so we do want to be listening.

Public revenue, after all, funds BCHDs operations, he added.

Construction will take four-to-five years, broken into two, shorter phases, Bakaly said, rather than thethree phases over 15 years the district had planned in 2019. The existing 260,400 square-foot campus will expand to 484,900, down from the 592,700 square-foot master plan presented last year.

Phase 1 will tear down the more than 60-year-old hospital building, which will be replaced in phase 2, if funding for a new facility comes in via a fundraising campaign or other means. Initially, the district planned to rebuild the hospital in phase 1, Bakaly said, but that wasnt financially viable.

The district, in its2019-20 fiscal year budget, projected about $15 million in revenues but nearly $14 million in expenses.

BCHD will keep part of an existing medical office, Bakaly said, instead of converting it into more units for residential senior care, slashing originally planned living spaces nearly in half.

The second phase would rebuild the old hospital as Community Wellness Pavilion, double the size of the existing gym, with public meeting spaces, a demonstration kitchen, 2.5 acres of green space and a 24,000 square-foot pool.

Plans also include closing Tower Street at Flagler Lane, allowing only service vehicles to enter that road, as well as a proposition to build a bike path along it.

Were hopeful that will address traffic issues the neighborhood already has, Bakaly said, including people coming and going from the neighboring Redondo Union High School.

The environmental study required by state law should be drafted by this fall, said Kerianne Lawson, chief programs officer for BCHD; the district would finalize plans with Redondo Beach by 2021 and break ground in summer 2022. Phase 1 would take until summer 2024, Lawson said.

Elderly residential care facilities will also now include a Program for All Inclusive Care, known as PACE, which will provide comprehensive medical and social services to older adults, Lawson said. The senior clinic will address wraparound needs like medical care, nutrition service, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

Information on participating in the virtual board meeting:bchd.org/board-directors-meetings.

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Beach Cities Health District to cut Healthy Living Campus revamp nearly in half - Beach Reporter