GLENDALE : Work on Complex for Elderly Delayed

Construction of a proposed 70-unit apartment development in Glendale for low-income senior citizens will be delayed at least a year because owners of one property rejected the city’s purchase offer as too low.

The delay means the Silvercrest Senior Housing Project, which the Salvation Army proposes to build at Central and Garfield avenues in southwest Glendale, cannot be completed before 1996, city officials said this week.

The city Housing Authority in May allocated $2.1 million in redevelopment funds to help launch the project, including purchasing six lots and relocating a dozen families from residences on Garfield Avenue.

All of the parcels are needed to assemble a site large enough for the proposed four-story apartment development, said Beth Stochl, a city administrative analyst. The city had planned to use its power of eminent domain to acquire private land, which would then be combined with two more adjoining parcels on Windsor Road owned by the Salvation Army.

But Enrique Cervantes and Ofelia Valdovinos--owners of a four-unit rental complex on a 10,000-square-foot lot on Garfield--rejected the city’s offer of $360,000 for their property as too low. Stochl said the city now is reappraising the property.

If the city and owners cannot reach an agreement, the issue eventually could be settled in court--a lengthy process that could delay development even further. The owners could not be reached for comment.

For the Salvation Army to apply for the Housing and Urban Development grant this year, the city needed to purchase all six properties by July 8, Stochl said. Because of the rejection by the owners of the one property, an application cannot be made to HUD for another year.

HUD approval is expected to take at least a year after application is received by the agency, and actual construction will require another year beyond that, Stochl said.

Total development costs for the project are expected to exceed $7 million, with the bulk of the funds to be raised through a grant from HUD, Stochl said.

In the interim, the authority on Tuesday agreed to lease rent-free to the Salvation Army another property it now owns as part of the six-parcel purchase. A vacant two-story house on Garfield Avenue, which is on land zoned for commercial use, will be used by the charity as a temporary office while its administrative headquarters on Windsor Road undergo remodeling.