Building a Case Against Developers : Santa Clarita Valley: Marblehead residents say shoddy construction and broken promises are grounds for a $5-million lawsuit.

The brochure called it “a creation of superb architectural foresight, lasting quality and value.”

Residents of the Marblehead development in the Santa Clarita Valley beg to differ.

“This place is a joke,” Joann Krutainis said as she gave a tour of a condominium, the roof of which leaked so badly that parts of the living room ceiling were cut away to allow water through to prevent further damage.

While most community bulletin boards post notices of upcoming picnics or yard sales, the one at Marblehead reminds residents to collect receipts from repair expenses so they can be tallied in their $5-million lawsuit with the developers.

Virtually all of the 56 sold units, and at least some of the eight unsold ones, have suffered severe water damage, the lawsuit alleges.

It may not be much consolation to the residents of Marblehead, but their neighbors across Hemingway Avenue in Diamondhead, a condominium complex built by a different developer, are experiencing similar problems. Residents there have complained of water leaks ever since they moved in four years ago.

Residents have learned that their two communities, a few miles south of Magic Mountain, don’t just share a street. They share anxieties.

But at Marblehead, if water leaks were the only problem, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.

Residents say it’s the plumbing pipes that crack in the middle of the night, air conditioners that operate so loudly it’s impossible to conduct a conversation, the abandoned construction areas that menacingly beckon to children who have no playgrounds and, perhaps most of all, the litany of unfulfilled promises that frustrate those who live here.

“We were supposed to have our own shopping, our own schools and paseos, and a whole brand-new, shining new community,” said Krutainis, who bought her condominium in the summer of 1990. “I moved here because of the whole concept.”

Indeed, the brochure promised an “ideal setting” where “the design and quality will reward you with a wealth of personal satisfaction.”

But when one of the Marblehead developers, CCR Associates, ran into financial troubles shortly after the first-phase units were sold, what was supposed to be life “in the serenity of the Santa Clarita Valley among the gently rolling hills of Stevenson Ranch” turned into a 2 1/2-year ordeal with no end in sight. The builder has since declared bankruptcy.

Across the street, the 4-year-old Diamondhead complex has been having difficulties of its own--but those problems pale in comparison to those of their neighbor, and at least they have a developer to turn to.

Ever since Ho Sook Jo bought her brand-spanking-new condominium in 1989, she has been battling leaks in her hallway. And leaks in her bedroom. And leaks in her kitchen. And cracks on her balcony.

“I stress out when I come home during the rainy season because I don’t know what else is going to happen,” said Jo, who was one of the first residents of the Diamondhead complex.

Jo and many of her neighbors in the 296-unit development have complained for years of similarly porous roofs and cracked stucco that have plagued them since the first rains.

The developer, the Anden Group, has, on several occasions, sent out repair crews to patch things up and has solved some of the problems, but most of the leaks return with each rain, residents say.

“It frustrates me that I can’t just come home and relax,” Jo said. “I have to put buckets down and just generally stress about the house.”

Anden officials said they have tried to work with the homeowners association to make amends and recently promised that all repairs, including new roofs where necessary, would be completed by the end of March.

“Admittedly, we’ve had some problems,” said Matt MacLaren, vice president of the Anden Group. “But I honestly feel we’re doing the right thing in trying to go back and effect repairs.”

MacLaren said the company had asked the initial roofing subcontractor (“the first and last time we ever used them”) to make the repairs two years ago, but when those failed, Anden went out and hired its own roofers.

“I feel proud of what we are doing,” MacLaren said. “Not that we had problems, but what we are doing to solve them. We’re not running away or hiding from the problems, but we are doing what we can to correct them.”

While Jo says she’s on the verge of picketing Anden’s office if the repairs aren’t made soon, she takes heart in at least one fact.

“The only thing I did right was not buy one of those,” Jo said, pointing across the street to the Marblehead complex. There, Krutainis sat in her dining room as she described her battles with Mother Nature.

“Every time we saw a cloud, everyone had to rearrange their furniture and put out the plastic,” Krutainis said. “God forbid you tried to have guests over or go away for the weekend.”

Not that guests would have a place to park. Only 11 guest parking spaces were completed for the 64-unit complex before CCR Associates went bankrupt.

Only the first of four phases of Marblehead were finished, and promised amenities such as a swimming pool, waterscapes, walkways and playground areas were never built.

What was supposed to be the swimming pool remains a dirt field--with not even a hole in the ground.

Residents, tired of the wind sweeping across the field and blowing the dirt into their homes, eventually bought grass seed and manure and hand-watered the area. The resulting field is the only grassy area in the complex.

While thousands of homeowners across the country took advantage of recent drops in mortgage interest rates to refinance their homes, residents of Marblehead say they couldn’t find a bank willing to do so, citing the complex’s lack of amenities, its construction problems and the litigation.

Some residents paid a $15,000 premium to get a view of the proposed waterscapes, similar to the one that welcomes visitors to Stevenson Ranch on McBean Parkway.

Instead, those residents have a view of a tan slope studded with weeds and ending in a short wall of cinder blocks. The blocks had been placed there by residents to prevent mud from sliding down the hill into the street.

Some residents have verandas looking out onto the foundations of condominiums that were to be Phase 2. Rusted screws and concrete support bars protrude from the concrete slabs, which Krutainis said are occasionally used by kids as a roller rink.

“There’s nowhere else for them to play,” she said.

The condo owners also argue that shoddy plumbing produces not just leaks, but even noise. “When my neighbors run the bathtub, you can’t hold a conversation in my house,” said Michelle Crosby, a Marblehead resident.

Telltale signs of makeshift repairs are apparent throughout the complex, such as fresh asphalt covering an area where an underground water pipe burst in the middle of the night last year.

When Crosby and others first bought the condominiums in the summer of 1990, their primary concern was getting the pool and spa installed as brochures promised.

“As the months passed, we saw all construction come to a stop,” Krutainis said. That was when they first got an inkling that the company had financial problems.

But then the winter rains came. “We didn’t need a pool outside,” Krutainis said. “We had ones inside.”

The rains brought down ceilings in some units, residents said, and brought earthworms into others.

The builders repeatedly assured residents that repairs would be made, Krutainis said, but eventually the residents hired an attorney and filed suit in September, 1991, against the developers, including CCR Associates, Perlman Properties of California and Stone Properties Inc.

Representatives of Perlman Properties could not be reached for comment. Neither Rob Stone of Stone Properties nor attorneys for CCR Associates returned repeated calls.

Representatives of the Dale Poe Corp., which residents claimed in their lawsuit was responsible for building the waterscapes, declined comment on the advice of their attorney.

Last month, residents, frustrated in their attempts to pin down the developers, sued Los Angeles County, alleging that the county had been negligent in inspecting the units and issuing the builders the necessary permits to complete construction.

The county counsel’s office declined to comment on the substance of the suit, saying it has until Feb. 11 to file a response.

It is unclear how long it will take for either of these lawsuits to be resolved, said Dana Perlman, attorney for the homeowners, who is not related to anyone at Perlman Properties.

Last week, the attorneys for the builders and condominium owners, along with a mediator, toured the units, taking inventory on the damage. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled in April.

Until then, residents search for relief from their homes.

“We were all presented a picture of a way of life,” Crosby said, on the verge of tears. “The Santa Clarita Valley is beautiful and with a lot of promise, but it’s hard to find any joy in it.”