Torrance OKs Purchase of Run-Down Building

Relieved to get rid of a building they called a community eyesore, Torrance City Council members Tuesday voted unanimously to pay $795,000 for a run-down, 28-unit apartment building in the city’s Old Downtown district.

City officials hope to demolish the Old Shoe Factory, which was converted from its initial industrial use to housing in 1943, to make way for a new water well.

But even if studies show that the site at 1860 Torrance Blvd. is not suitable for a well, city officials say they plan to raze the building and convert the 15,000-square-foot lot to another use, possibly commercial development or senior housing.

In addition to the $795,000 purchase price, the city has set aside $205,000 to pay for land studies and some of the relocation costs of the 17 families who live in the building.

Lynn Rossiter, who owns the site with her husband and a cousin, said tenants had been asked to move before the city made its offer so the building could be brought up to earthquake safety standards.

“It was going to take $300,000 to $400,000 just to bring it up to market standards . . . and the work required that the tenants leave,” she said.

Rossiter said the building, constructed in the early 1900s, had been among the few providing low-income housing in Torrance.

Funding for the purchase will come from the city’s water fund. If the site is not used for a water well, City Manager LeRoy Jackson said other city money would be found to reimburse the water fund.

He said studies of the site could take up to a year.