Integral Communities received a final go-ahead to develop 226 homes along a polluted stretch of the Los Angeles River in North Long Beach.
The Newport Beach-based developer got a zone change and development agreement this month for River Park, a gated community at 12 Baker Street, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.
The 20-acre project was approved last month by the City Council.
The low-lying residential development — with single-family homes and no tall buildings — is among the most significant new master planned communities in L.A. County in years.
The Wrigley Heights site was used for oil wastewater treatment for decades and will require major remediation before homes are built. Integral said the project could be completed by 2026.
Plans call for 74 two-story single-family homes, 99 two-story townhomes and 53 “carriage” townhomes on 20 acres east of the river between the 405 Freeway and Wardlow Road.
River Park will include 12 affordable homes for sale to very-low income buyers with an annual income of $59,500 or less for a family of four.
The project will include improvements to Baker Street Park and a traffic signal at its entrance on Wardlow Road.
The development, designed by Santa Ana-based Woodley Architectural Group, would include two- and three-story Spanish Colonial, Italianate and Santa Barbara-style homes, with two-, three- and four-bedroom plans from 1,500 to 2,400 square feet. Each would include a two-car garage.
Construction is expected to occur in phases over a nearly four-year period.
As part of its agreement with the city of Long Beach, Integral Communities will be required to set aside the northernmost 5 acres of the development site as landscaped open space centered on a soccer field.
The new green space would be owned and maintained by the River Park homeowner’s association, but kept available for use by the general public.
Residents opposed to the project said it would eat into diminishing open space along the river while adding traffic and local greenhouse gasses. They also said the site had been targeted in 2007 by the city for a future park.
Juan Ovalle, president of the Riverpark Coalition, had said the area “needs environmental justice, not a gated community.”
River Walk is the second project by Integral Communities along the L.A. River in Long Beach after Riverdale, a development of 131 homes built in 2017 in a partnership with Brandywine Homes.
This fall, a judge ruled that Insight Property Group, the developer behind a proposed self-storage facility north of the River Park housing site, needed to conduct an environmental review before resuming construction. Its opponents want the riverfront site turned into a public park.
— Dana Bartholomew
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