City leases former LBUSD site for new early‑childhood center in West Long Beach

Long Beach City Council on Tuesday authorized a new lease and joint‑use parking agreement to establish an early‑childhood education center in the city‑owned West Health facility at 2125 Santa Fe Avenue, a former Long Beach Unified School District early education site.

Economic development and health staff said the site sits in an area identified as a child‑care desert and that the city and a tenant — Educate/El Mundo — have coordinated on refurbishing the building to provide classrooms, restrooms, administrative space and a fenced outdoor play area. The tenant will pay about $1.5 million for tenant improvements; the city will cover required fire‑safety upgrades (sprinklers and underground fire line) estimated at about $660,000 from Measure A and remaining Long Beach Recovery Act funds.

The lease covers roughly 5,294 square feet and is for 10 years with two five‑year renewal options. Base rent is modest and may be offset by the tenant’s delivery of subsidized or discounted child‑care slots; in the initial 13 months the tenant will pay $500 monthly toward utilities and thereafter their prorated share for building costs. The tenant has an early termination option if funding is lost.

Staff said the site already received a categorical exemption for the center subject to the parking joint‑use agreement; the city will designate two nearby Admiral Kidd Park parking spaces as parent drop‑off during operating hours under a coterminous joint‑use agreement administered by Parks, Recreation and Marine.

Educate/El Mundo representatives and early‑childhood advocates spoke in support, saying the neighborhood needs closer access to licensed care and that co‑location with other services nearby (WIC, food distribution sites) strengthens family stability. The council approved the lease and joint‑use agreement.