San Pedro Ponte Vista

A groundbreaking took place recently at the old Navy housing site in San Pedro making way for a new, modern housing development to run along Western Avenue across from the Green Hills Cemetary. Bob Bisno, developer of Century City, paid $125 million for the surplus Navy land in 2005. His current plans are to build 676 homes on the property with ample parks and recreational facilities. The original total of homes was to be around 2300, but there was much opposition to the plans and ultimately the 676 number was approved by the city planning commission. The first phase of demolition started on May 8th and is expected to take up to 3 months.

The first new home is scheduled to be completed in late 2015, according to the Daily Breeze. The new development has gone through almost 10 years of traffic studies, countless community meetings and reworked plans. The 61.5 acre development overlooks the Vincent Thomas bridge and feature a 2.4 acre park adjacent to Western Avenue, several hiking and biking trails that will be open to the community. The current plans call for 208 single family homes along with town homes and single and multi level condominiums. Over 3000 new trees will be planted throughout the development.

The developer announced that a permanent access road running from Western Avenue to Mary Star of the Sea High School to the east, will also be built. The old Navy homes had housed 100s of enlistees and their families over the years until the Long Beach Naval Station was closed in 1995. The last of the Navy families moved out of the housing development in the late 1990s, according to the Daily Breeze. The houses sat vacant and the property was fenced off for years until the land was declared surplus and was auctioned of by the Navy in 2005.