BOYLE HEIGHTS : 18 Agree to Sell Homes to County

Eighteen Marengo Terrace residents have agreed to county offers to buy and demolish their homes to make way for construction of a new hospital at County-USC Medical Center.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved seven agreements, totaling $1.2-million in buyout, relocation and moving costs.

Eleven other homeowners have reached agreement with the county on the purchase prices of their homes and await board approval in February, said Nancy Manzanares, project administrator for the Community Development Commission’s division of Housing Development and Preservation.

Officials say about 200 households need to be relocated to make way for the new hospital.

“Offers are presented at various points along the way and each particular family has particular things to address,” Manzanares said. “In some cases we need more negotiations, and we’re happy to deal with them.”

The county has made offers to an additional seven homeowners in the first phase of the project, those who live on Cummings and Chicago streets, and is waiting for their responses. Two homeowners in the first phase may be ready to move out in about two months, Manzanares said.

So far, two homeowners have requested the use of outside appraisers because they disagreed with the county’s estimates of the fair market value of their properties. They will get new estimates, and the negotiating process will begin again, Manzanares said.

The residents, who live in houses and apartments on Cummings, Chicago, Cornwell and Charlotte streets, will be moved out to make way for a $1.1-billion construction project that will incorporate the hospitals and clinics now at the medical center.

The project became necessary after state officials threatened to close General Hospital because it does not meet current fire and safety codes.

It became financially feasible when the state Assembly approved a bill to fund capital projects of hospitals that care for high numbers of indigent patients. Half of County-USC’s patients are covered by Medi-Cal and another one-third have no insurance coverage at all, according to 1993 figures.

The project will be helped by money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; the Northridge earthquake a year ago forced the hospital to close 21 buildings, including the Psychiatric Hospital and Pediatric Pavilion. Officials estimate that the earthquake caused $1 billion in damage. Several buildings west of State Street have already been demolished.