Bryant-Vanalden Project Developer Quits as Manager

Cost overruns and numerous delays in a project to renovate a cluster of apartment buildings in the Bryant-Vanalden redevelopment area of Northridge have prompted the project’s developer to step down as manager of the buildings.

Devinder (Dave) Vadehra said Friday he agreed to turn over management responsibilities to a Tennessee-based apartment-management firm so that he can concentrate more on rehabilitation of the buildings.

Vadehra said he was not forced to step down but reached an agreement with Los Angeles city officials and Benton Mortgage Co, the project’s principal lender.

“The people at Benton suggested it, and I agreed,” Vadehra said. “I was wearing too many hats.”

Ralph Esparza, director of the Community Development Department’s housing division, said the agreement came because Vadehra encountered cost overruns and other expenses that have delayed the $25.6-million tax-supported redevelopment project.

“We felt that because of all the other problems, Mr. Vadehra should concentrate just on the construction,” Esparza said.

The city contracted with Vadehra to renovate a cluster of 46 apartment buildings in the blighted Bryant-Vanalden area.

The American Apartment Management Co., a subsidiary of Benton Mortgage Co., has taken over management duties until Sept. 1, when Vadehra is expected to complete the project. Vadehra said he expects to resume management of the buildings at that time.

In addition to the management of the project, American Apartment Management Co. is handling accounting and clerical duties, Esparza said.

In December, 1986, the City Council voted to provide Vadehra $20.8 million from tax-exempt bonds to finance most of the project. It also approved lending him $4.2 million to purchase and renovate 453 apartments in a three-block area crisscrossed by Bryant Street and Vanalden Avenue.

In April, Vadehra asked the city to lend him an additional $600,000, saying that he had run into a number of problems with the project.

Vadehra said he found about 4,000 tenants, 1,000 more than he had estimated, crowded into the units. As a result, he was forced to wait longer than anticipated for units to be vacated, which forced extensions of workers’ contracts, he said.

The loan was approved by the council and Mayor Tom Bradley, and is now being processed, officials said.

Under terms of the loan, Vadehra would be required to repay the city at an 8.5% annual rate of interest over 3 1/2 years. He said he will repay the city from higher rent that will be charged to tenants of the renovated units.

So far, 242 of the 453 units have been renovated.