Bryant-Vanalden Project Is Part of Bond-Issue Bid Sent to Mayor

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday took the first step toward initiating a multimillion-dollar tax-exempt bond issue to assist a developer in buying and fixing up the run-down Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue apartments in Northridge.

The council, unanimously and without discussion, sent to Mayor Tom Bradley for his expected approval a request for state authorization to issue bonds for a number of housing projects in the city, including the Bryant-Vanalden project.

Craig Avery, director of the housing division of the city Community Development Department, said he expects the state to approve the city’s request. The specific plan for the Bryant-Vanalden project will have to come back before the council and the mayor for another vote before it can proceed. A vote is expected in early December.

Dave Vadehra, a Los Angeles developer, has acquired options to buy 340 of the 645 apartments in the Bryant-Vanalden area and has been negotiating to buy the rest. The Community Development Department proposes to issue $17 million to $27 million in tax-exempt bonds to assist the developer in buying and fixing up the units. The amount of the bond will depend on how many units the developer acquires.

The three-square-block Bryant-Vanalden area has long generated complaints from residents in the surrounding middle-class neighborhood about crime and dilapidated conditions.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area, won preliminary council approval last year to evict the 3,000 predominantly low-income, Latino tenants. But Bernson withdrew the plan in the face of strong opposition from civil-rights and tenants groups and Mayor Bradley.