Complex Wrecked in ’94 Quake Demolished : Housing: Residents of the Franciscan Hill Condominiums are suing the developer for alleged shoddy work.

The Franciscan Hill Condominiums, badly damaged in the Northridge earthquake, came under the wrecking ball Wednesday.

But the battle over the condos, built in 1987, is far from over.

Former residents, on hand for the demolition, have filed a $7-million, class-action suit against the developer, the Newhall Land & Farming Co., claiming that the structures were poorly designed, not built to code and made of defective materials.

Residents Doug and Aunda Hoover said that in the aftermath of the quake, with the interior of their walls exposed, they saw evidence of what they called shoddy construction.

“The bolts were left undone,” said Doug Hoover. “That was the clue that something was amiss.”

A Newhall Land official said the charges made in the lawsuit, which was filed in September, were untrue. “Everything was built according to code and approved by county inspectors,” said Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for the developer.

She declined to discuss the specific allegations in the lawsuit. “We can’t comment on this nail or that bolt because it is the subject of litigation,” she said.

Residents and their lawyer had plenty to say, however, and wanted to make sure they got a wide audience for their views. A public relations firm sent notices to media outlets to publicize the demolition of the 23 buildings and the residents’ presence at the event.

Attorney Lee Barker said while no residents were injured in the quake, they were put in serious jeopardy.

“Some of them had to throw furniture through the windows to get out of their homes,” Barker said. “Some jumped off their balconies to a hillside below to save themselves.”

Numerous other buildings in the Santa Clarita area were damaged beyond repair during the earthquake.

Steve Daniels, who lived in the second story of one of the condos, charged that the buildings’ construction was rushed amid the real estate boom of the 1980s. “They just threw them up in mass production,” he said.

Watching her home being demolished, Aunda Hoover said she was glad to see some progress being made on rebuilding the condo, which will take at least another six months. “Well, I think we’ll have to [move back],” said Hoover, who is renting a nearby home with her husband and two children. “But we don’t want to stay.”