WESTLAKE : Construction Crew Bolsters Goodwill

The Crescent Arms project team is doing a seismic retrofit of an 11-story building at 8th Street and Beacon Avenue, but its assistance to several families left homeless by the earthquake did even more to reinforce goodwill in the neighborhood.

A donation of $5,000 from the project team, plus $5,000 from World Vision, enabled 22 families to move to other apartments after their building at 744 S. Beacon Ave. suffered significant damage in the Jan. 17 earthquake.

The construction crew, working across the street from the damaged building, became worried when they saw their neighbors suddenly homeless.

“There were families living on the sidewalk and the kids were running around in the street,” said Steven Rhodes, project manager for Morley Construction Co., a member of the Crescent Arms team.

A call went out to Father Philip Lance of Pueblo Nuevo, a congregation that is active in the neighborhood. Lance helped organize a relief effort with funds from the Crescent Arms team and World Vision, an international Christian relief and development agency.

“After the earthquake we were sleeping in the parking lot,” Dora Escorcia said of her family of five. “When we got the money to move we found a place just down the street.

“First I thanked God and then Morley Construction. If it hadn’t been for them and Father Philip, I don’t know what we would have done.”

Although the families also applied for federal emergency assistance, the money from the Crescent Arms team allowed them to move immediately. Many found apartments in the neighborhood.

The Crescent Arms project team, which includes the Crescent Bay Co., the Los Angeles Neighborhood Development Corp., Morley Construction Co. and Killefer Flammang Purtill Architects, also donated food and diapers to the families, and clothing and other items to a thrift store run by Pueblo Nuevo.

The Crescent Arms, at 1709 8th St., was built in 1924 and originally was called the Beaux Arts Building. It contained a stage and a theater; more recently it was used as an insurance company’s offices.

Once the retrofitting and other extensive modifications are complete, possibly by the end the year, the building will have 231 apartments for senior citizens.

The second phase of the project calls for construction of a 68-unit building for senior citizens and a 66-unit complex for families.

The Pueblo Nuevo congregation, established in the spring of 1992 with the support of the Episcopal Church, is expanding its work through its nonprofit community development corporation. In addition to the thrift store, Pueblo Nuevo Enterprises manages a property maintenance company employing janitors, general repair workers, landscapers and others from the neighborhood.

A retail center next to the church in the 1700 block of 7th Street and a business training course are planned for this year.

At a ceremony to celebrate the local relief effort, residents thanked members of the project team and World Vision. A colorful banner hung from a trailer at the construction site with the words “Juntos Somos Comunidad” (United We Are a Community).

“You can’t build a community just by building houses,” said Joel McLafferty, president of the Crescent Bay Co., one of the developers. “That’s why we wanted to help out here.”