Los Angeles : Park Labrea’s Appeal

Owners of the Park Labrea apartments have appealed a city decision that denied their request to pass on to tenants the $2.4-million bill for fencing and gating the complex.

The community of apartment towers and townhouses, which opened in the mid-1940s, has 4,253 units and houses about 10,000 residents.

The appeal is expected to be heard in May, but the hearing date has not yet been set by the Rent Stabilization Division in downtown Los Angeles.

The city’s March decision upheld a 1989 ordinance that permits landlords to pass on to tenants only half the cost of capital improvements instead of 100% of the cost allowed before the ordinance. Instead of passing on a $9.56-per-month rent increase to tenants for the project, Park Labrea owners are allowed to pass on a $4.78 per month rent surcharge for a period of six years under the 1989 ordinance.

Roger Winegar, general manager of the 156-acre complex, said the city department made the only decision it could make given the ordinance. But the owners are appealing the ruling because the ordinance gave no consideration to projects under way when it was passed.

“We undertook the project with the understanding that it would be a 100% pass-through” of costs to tenants, Winegar said.

However, to pass all of the costs on to tenants, the owners would have had to file an application certifying the project was completed before Oct. 1, 1989, the date the ordinance went into effect.

The concrete had been poured and the metal fencing was up before Oct. 1, but the remote-controlled gates were not operable until 1990, said Cheryl Kempinsky, vice president of the Park Labrea Tenants Assn.