Homeowners File 2nd Suit Against Zarian : Glendale: Councilman, two partners are accused of developing, selling poorly built units. Charges mirror those of other case.

A group of dissatisfied homeowners has slapped City Councilman Larry Zarian with a second lawsuit alleging that he and several business associates developed and sold poorly built condominiums.

The lawsuit, filed in May by the Mount View Terrace homeowners association in Glendale Superior Court, accuses Zarian and his partners Zaven Antanesian and Frank Schrage of failing to repair myriad problems over the past three years at their condo complex at 2706 Honolulu Ave. in Montrose. The homeowners’ attorneys have estimated the damages at $500,000, but say that figure will grow exponentially before the case goes to court.

The charges include defectively designed and built roofing, decks, balconies, walkways and courtyards that cause water to seep into units and leak and flood throughout the property, according to court records. The allegations mirror, on a smaller scale, those Zarian faces in a $15-million suit brought by residents of another building located just a few blocks away.

“It’s just totally a shoddy construction job. I don’t know how it ever passed inspection,” said Jim Springett, a former member of the association board of directors. “When it rains, it comes right through the walls. When it rains hard, it comes streaming through the tops of the windows.”

Zarian, a 12-year Glendale council member and real estate investor who was recently elected to a fourth term, questioned the validity of the charges. He said members of the homeowners association “never once” contacted him about any problems at the complex and that he was “totally shocked” when served with the lawsuit last month.

“If the problems were that bad, why would they have not called the owners?” Zarian asked in an interview. “My address at City Hall is well-known, so I don’t understand why I didn’t receive any contact. If this was really going on, I never had any inkling.”

Zarian said he does not recall exactly how much he invested in the building, which was completed in 1990. He said he was a one-third investor in the project with Antanesian and Charles Gangi, brother of prominent Glendale developer Salvatore Gangi.

Charles Gangi died in 1987, but Antanesian and Zarian proceeded under the name G&A; Builders Inc.--an entity originally formed by Antanesian and Charles Gangi to build the condos, Zarian said. Schrage, a prominent builder in the Glendale area, was the general contractor. The lawsuit alleges that the corporation was a “mere shell and sham,” created to protect the partners from liability.

Zarian said Schrage told him about a water leakage problem on the second floor of the Mount View Terrace building about three years ago, but he assumed it had been fixed. And since the lawsuit, Zarian said Schrage has told him he was trying to fix various problems at the building through his insurance company.

Schrage declined to elaborate on the case, but noted that “the actual facts and what they [the homeowners] are saying are pretty far apart.” Antanesian did not return phone calls.

Matt D. Ober, an attorney for the homeowners, disputed the councilman’s assertion that he was out of the loop.

“The comment that he [Zarian] was not aware of these problems is not true,” said Ober. “He has been put on notice, and his general contractor has been on the property trying to fix things, but often making things worse.”

The case is not expected to go to trial before next year, he said.

Other Mount View Terrace homeowners declined to comment on the case, but some privately complained of having to contend with water-damaged carpets and floors, peeling walls and corroding window sills, plumbing defects and other problems.

Because the law requires sellers to disclose any defects in their property, one man said his three-bedroom unit, which he purchased in 1990 for $189,000, will fetch only about $130,000 now.

Meanwhile, the case against Zarian and numerous other investors in the 95-unit Glen Valley Condominiums complex could go to trial in a Los Angeles courtroom this month, five years after it was filed.

In that case, the homeowners allege that Zarian--who has said he was only a passive investor--and his partners Vahe and Haerik Hovsepian, Glendale contractor Varooj Hovsepian and a group of New York-based investors knowingly sold condos that were built with inferior materials and were in violation of numerous city building codes. Signs of decay are visible throughout the Glen Valley building.

Zarian said he thinks the press coverage received by the Glen Valley lawsuit in recent months may have prompted the latest lawsuit.

“Maybe it’s becoming fashionable to sue me,” he said.