DOWNTOWN : Apartment Owners Face Charges Again

The city attorney’s office filed criminal charges last week against the owners of four Downtown apartment buildings who have a history of failing to address slum conditions at their properties.

Daniel and Nancy Lee of the Mount Olympus area in Hollywood Hills were charged with 31 criminal violations of fire, health, building and safety codes at the four buildings a block north of the Los Angeles Convention Center. They will be arraigned July 1 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

The buildings are a three-story, 31-unit building at 916 W. Olympic Blvd.; a three-story, 21-unit building at 924 W. Olympic Blvd; a two-story, four-unit house at 1015 S. Bixel St., and a 10-unit, garden-style complex at 1035 S. Bixel St.

Deputy City Atty. Richard Bobb said the code violations include missing or broken smoke detectors; rodent and roach infestation; damaged or missing windows, and damaged plumbing, electrical fixtures, walls, floors and ceilings.

Daniel Lee has been convicted four times in criminal slum cases since 1987, according to the city attorney’s office. In February, he was convicted on 10 housing violations for a 38-unit building at 1130 S. Hope St. and was placed on three years’ probation with a $2,221 fine. Last July, he was placed on house arrest for a month in a 32-unit apartment complex he owned at 916 W. Georgia St.

The Lees could not be reached for comment.