Old Flophouse Gets New Image, Role
 
Long Beach Press-Telegram, May 22, 2008
By Karen Robes, Staff Writer

LONG BEACH -- Despite the name on the building, the Palace Hotel was far from palatial and even further from hosting royalty.

 
For many years, the two-story brick hotel on East Anaheim Street attracted drug users and prostitutes to its less-than-$100-a-week rooms.

Crime was such an issue that a Superior Court judge ordered then-owner of the Palace in 1999 to install high-voltage lighting and security cameras, hire guards and take other measures to reduce crime there.

 
Now a vacant building owned by the Long Beach Housing Development Co., the Palace Hotel is being redeveloped into affordable housing for youths transitioning out of the foster care system.

The LBHDC board this week accepted a bid from Long Beach-based LINC Housing Corp. and Los Angeles-based United Friends of the Children to renovate the Palace.

Plans involve gutting the building’s interior to make way for 14 to 18 upper units with bathrooms and kitchenettes each averaging 300 to 350 square feet, said LINC project manager Conor Weir.

The ground level will include office space, two private counseling rooms and 1,400 square feet for meetings, classes and events. Retail space will take up about 1,000 square feet.

The hotel’s historic facade will be preserved.

LINC is seeking funding from local, state and federal sources and will negotiate with the city on the cost of the project and number of units.

The project is expected to break ground in 2009. The housing program is set to be operational in 2010, Weir said.

When completed, the building will house United Friends’ program, which would typically run 18 months and provides resources and services such as mentoring, career coaching and permanent housing assistance to a dozen or more youths ages 18 to 24.   Continue »

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