Manhattan Beach is officially getting its first seven-story apartment building, a 40-unit complex at 2301 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, with demolition and excavation potentially starting as early as July. At a recent pre-construction meeting, city staff and the developer walked nearby residents through trucking routes, lane closures and the construction schedule. Despite pointed pushback from surrounding homeowners, the project is advancing under state housing laws that sharply limit what the city can say no to.
Project permits and specs
According to the City of Manhattan Beach, the seven-story structure will span roughly 35,246 square feet and contain 40 rental units: 29 market-rate, three moderate-income and eight low-income. The homes will sit on five residential levels stacked above two levels of above-ground parking, with another garage level below ground.
City documents put the top of the parapet at 73 feet, 4 inches and the top of the elevator shaft at 75 feet, 10 inches. Plans under Permit No. BLDC-24-00407 show 47 parking spaces on a site of about 0.3 acres, and the city notes that both unit counts and parking totals were adjusted during plan review.
Construction schedule and staging
Contractors told neighbors to brace for roughly two and a half to three months of demolition and excavation, followed by about 22 months of vertical construction. Excavation is expected to go down about 20 feet, beginning roughly 5 to 9 feet in from the property line.
The team estimated about 60 dump-truck trips per day at peak hauling, along with a closure of lane 3 on Sepulveda for up to 12 months. Early on, the crew plans to rent parking spaces from the Walgreens across the street. Patrick Labib of Labib Construction told attendees he is “very committed to being a good neighbor,” while city residential construction manager Roy Murphy urged homeowners to document their yards and walls in advance, as reported by MB News.
How the project qualified
The site lies within the city’s Residential Overlay District, a planning tool created under the 6th-cycle Housing Element to direct new housing toward commercial corridors and allow qualifying projects that meet objective standards, according to the City of Manhattan Beach. Because the proposal includes affordable units, it tapped into incentives under California’s density-bonus law and was processed ministerially rather than through discretionary public hearings, per city materials.
The city also issued environmental clearance for the development, as reported by Urbanize LA.
Neighbors and the political backdrop
About two dozen residents showed up to the pre-construction meeting, and several brought homemade protest signs. Some in the crowd booed when the developer was introduced, MB News reported.
Critics argue the seven-story building looks wildly out of scale next to nearby single-family homes and say they plan to keep protesting. Others pointed to a growing lineup of similar projects moving through the city’s pipeline along the Sepulveda corridor. The fight is part of a broader political struggle over multiple Residential Overlay District proposals on Sepulveda and Rosecrans that are expected to reshape Manhattan Beach’s commercial strips.
Next steps for neighbors
The city packet identifies the project planner and lists the permit number for residents seeking more detail, and it notes that design specifics could evolve during building and safety plan check, according to the City of Manhattan Beach. Neighbors were encouraged to thoroughly document existing property conditions now, with photos and video, and to route any construction complaints through the city’s permitting channels.
With demolition and heavy hauling on deck, Sepulveda is likely to feel like a work zone for much of the next two years as new housing rises along the corridor. City records and neighborhood meetings alike suggest this project is one piece of a larger shift on Manhattan Beach’s commercial strips, guaranteeing that arguments over building scale and housing policy will stay front and center for some time.
