Local News in Brief : Anaheim : City OKs $28-Million Rehabilitation Project

The city Planning Commission Monday granted a building permit for a model $28-million rehabilitation project in the city’s dilapidated Chevy Chase neighborhood.

The commission voted to approve a conditional use permit for development of 15 acres of land that includes 90 separate properties that will be renovated as one residential development.

The Chevy Chase district became the focus of city rehabilitation efforts after Anaheim restaurateur Carl Karcher and developer Terrance K. Barry offered to buy up a mile square area of apartments that, in recent years, had been plagued with drugs, violence and criminal activity.

City officials say that, if successful, the project could become a model for rehabilitating other rundown areas in the city.

Plans call for rehabilitating about 364 existing apartments and constructing an eight-unit apartment building. The development agreement between the city and developers calls for the project to remain under one owner for at least 30 years and provides for on-site managers and adequate property maintenance.