Long Beach has approved turning an underutilized office building into much-needed student housing.

The City Council unanimously approved several actions in a public hearing last week to turn the Park Tower office building, 5150 E. Pacific Coast Highway, into private student housing, with nearly 600 beds for Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College students.

The project required the council to certify the environmental impact report, approve a general plan amendment and a zone change to convert the commercial office building into a private dormitory.

“We have over 73,000 students in higher education in Long Beach, yet we only have three student housing developments on or off campus in the whole city,” Alison Spindler-Ruiz, planning bureau manager for community development, said d

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