San Fernando Valley : City to Renovate Blythe Street Building

The City Council voted Wednesday to buy a rundown Blythe Street apartment complex and transfer the title to a nonprofit social service organization that will spend an estimated $3 million to renovate the property.

Under the arrangement, city officials said, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional must repay the city the $765,000 it expects to spend to purchase the title to the 56-unit, four-building complex in Van Nuys.

The project is seen as a boost to the Blythe Street neighborhood, considered one of the toughest in the San Fernando Valley.

The apartment complex is near the former General Motors plant, now the site of a planned $100-million retail, commercial and manufacturing center.

City Councilman Richard Alarcon said that renovating the apartment complex will go a long way toward cleaning up the neighborhood.

“This will be a major improvement on Blythe Street,” said Alarcon, who helped spearhead the project. “If you have a community that is taking care of itself, the business community will be more likely to invest.”

Alarcon said the former owner abandoned the apartment complex about a year ago.