Thousand Oaks : Repair Work Begins at New Senior Center

More than 15 months after a fire destroyed the partially completed Goebel Senior Center, construction crews have returned to the site to rebuild the 17,000-square-foot building.

Chartered Construction Co. resumed construction of the center at 1385 E. Janss Road last week despite a continuing dispute between the company and its insurers over how much of the remaining structure must be replaced.

The building was about 70% complete when it was burned March 25, 1989, in a deliberately set fire. No suspects have been arrested in connection with the blaze, fire officials said.

Construction crews arrived at the charred remains of the center June 25 to begin removing the concrete slab that covers the foundation. They will spend the remainder of this week removing rubble from the site so engineers can determine whether electrical, water and sewer conduits in the foundation were damaged during the fire.

“It’s been very delicate work so far,” said Joe Hinsberg, the city’s manager of community services. “But it has to be done so we can see for ourselves that everything is intact.”

Engineers have also been conducting tests to determine if the remaining steel beams and supports are still sound. The test results are expected Friday.

The city has insisted that all damaged portions of the building be removed and rebuilt, even though RLI Insurance has indicated it might only pay to repair the building’s concrete slab with epoxy.

Meanwhile, Chartered is continuing negotiations with RLI Insurance and is expected to bring the matter to arbitration if the insurance company doesn’t pay for all the repairs required by the city.

“I am the one that is caught in the middle,” said Lotfi Lotfallah, president of the Los Angeles-based Chartered Construction.

The new Goebel Senior Center, to which city officials committed $2.5 million in construction funds, was expected to open last October. Delays caused by the fire and the dispute with the insurers will delay the opening until at least next May, Hinsberg said.

The new center is part of a $4.6-million project to replace the existing 6,300-square-foot Goebel Senior Center at 110 Conejo School Road and build a teen center, which was untouched by the fire and opened last November.