Developer Acts to Buy, Fix Up Bryant-Vanalden Apartments
A developer with a record of fixing up run-down buildings has taken steps to buy the apartments in the Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue neighborhood of Northridge in the latest effort to combat the slum-like conditions there.
Dave Vadehra, a Los Angeles developer, said Wednesday that he has acquired options to buy 340 of the 645 apartments in the Bryant-Vanalden area and is negotiating to purchase the rest.
Vadehra has the blessing of the city Community Development Department, which is preparing to ask City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley to issue $17 million to $27 million in tax-exempt bonds to assist the developer in buying and fixing up the units.
It would be the city’s largest bond issue ever for a housing rehabilitation project, said Ralph Esparza, assistant director of the housing division of the Community Development Department.
Residents Complain
The three-square-block Bryant-Vanalden area long has generated complaints from residents in surrounding middle-class neighborhood about dilapidated conditions and crime.
In a controversial move last year, Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area, won preliminary council approval for a plan that would have enabled landlords to evict 3,000 predominantly low-income Latinos from the neighborhood. The landlords then would have been able to fix up units with the help of tax-exempt bonds and rent them out at higher prices.
Bernson withdrew the plan, however, in the face of strong opposition from civil rights and tenants groups and Mayor Bradley, who said it was unfair to tenants.
Another problem with the earlier plan was that its prime mover, landlord Lance Robbins, faced a criminal investigation that led to charges being filed against him by the city attorney alleging fire and health-code violations in apartment buildings he owns in other parts of Los Angeles.
Has Options to Buy More
Vadehra has acquired options to buy Robbins’ large holdings in the Bryant-Vanalden area, as well as those of many other landlords, Esparza said.
The city’s housing experts believe it is necessary for most, if not all, of the property to come under a single ownership. “If not,” said a report prepared earlier this year by the Community Development Department, “the rehabilitation initiated on a spot basis . . . would serve only as a temporary remedy.”
Bernson welcomed Vadehra’s interest in the area, saying it may finally end years of efforts to eliminate crime and unsightly conditions.
“The project is looking very promising,” said Bernson, who has met with Vadehra. “I’m very optimistic.”
Vadehra said he approached the Community Development Department several months ago after hearing that Bernson was looking for a developer to spearhead an improvement in the Bryant-Vanalden area. Vadehra has worked with the city on similar, though smaller, apartment rehabilitation projects in Hollywood, Esparza said.
“He has a track record” of turning around run-down buildings, Esparza said. A spokesman for the city attorney’s office said the office has never had a problem with Vadehra’s apartments.
Would Install Gate
The latest plan, like the old one, calls for a number of improvements to the neighborhood, including installing a security gate around the apartments, closing off a stretch of Bryant Street and making it a greenbelt, providing recreation facilities, renovating apartments and possibly building a day-care center.
Whether the plan requires evictions and rent increases is critical to how much support it receives. City officials and Vadehra said they are still working out details and that it is too early to predict the effect of the plan on renters.
A City Hall official who has worked on the plan said it would force out only those tenants engaged in criminal conduct. “There will be evictions for cause, and there need to be,” said the official, who asked not to be named. “There need not be large displacement of legitimate tenants.”
May Relocate Tenants
The official said tenants could be forced to temporarily relocate to vacant apartments in the area while renovations take place. The official, who has been critical of Bernson’s past efforts to evict tenants, said Vadehra is sensitive to tenants’ needs.
The official said the plan would raise the average $500-a-month rent for a three-bedroom apartment by $182.
Tenant leaders in the Bryant-Vanalden area have said that a large rent increase is tantamount to an eviction notice for low-income tenants. None of the tenant leaders could be reached for comment Wednesday.
As a condition of using tax-exempt bonds, the developer must set aside 20% of the housing for 17 1/2 years for low-income families, defined as those earning a maximum of $15,000 a year for a family of four.
Will Offer Subsidies
City officials said they expect to make federal rent subsidies available to tenants to offset the effect of rent increases, but they could not say how many tenants would receive subsidies.
The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed that such subsidies go only to legal residents of the United States. Tenant leaders acknowledge that many Bryant-Vanalden residents are illegal aliens.
The proposal faces other uncertainties, Esparza said, including the effect of tax-reform legislation recently signed into law by President Reagan on the city’s ability to issue tax-exempt bonds. At first glance, the legislation appears to drastically limit the value of bonds the city can issue, which could lead to competition among council members for the limited funds, Esparza said.
Officials Tour Area
Esparza said he expects to submit details of the neighborhood improvement plan, along with the application for a bond issue, to the City Council this month.
City housing officials toured the Bryant-Vanalden area with Vadehra Tuesday, and some returned Wednesday, to determine the extent of required renovations.
In a development that could greatly affect the Bryant-Vanalden area, the City Council’s Building and Safety Committee has revived a proposed ordinance to limit the number of people living in a residence.
It would affect poor communities such as the Bryant-Vanalden area, where city inspectors earlier this year found 29 tenants living in a four-bedroom unit, said Barbara Zeidman, director of the Rent Stabilization Division of the city Community Development Department.
Previous Plan Defeated
The council, on a 10-4 vote last April, defeated a proposal by Councilman Ernani Bernardi to limited the number of people who could live in a residence based on its square footage.
Critics said the measure would leave many poor tenants with no place to stay.
Zeidman, who has recommended the occupancy limits, said she is asking the city to require landlords to give tenants in crowded apartments an opportunity to rent vacant units in the same complex. Tenants could stay in crowded units until there is such a vacancy, she said.
According to Zeidman, the new proposal also will be more permissive than the one rejected by the council. It would roughly limit occupancy to six in a one-bedroom apartment, eight in a two-bedroom apartment and 11 in a three-bedroom apartment, she said.
Tenants would be allowed to sleep anywhere in an apartment, except in bathrooms, closets, the kitchen and hallways, she said.
Zeidman said the limits are necessary for the safety of occupants and to preserve the city’s housing supply. “Too many persons occupying a housing unit can cause the premature exhaustion of the facilities,” she said.
