City Targeting Tardy Quake Inspections

City officials are planning a crackdown on the owners of 61 earthquake-damaged high-rise buildings who have failed to begin repair inspections months after a city deadline. Building and safety officials said they will mail letters this week to owners, giving them 30 days to inspect the welds of the steel frames of their buildings.

Those who fail to complete the report will be issued a notice of noncompliance, which acts much like a property lien, making it difficult for the owner to sell or refinance the building.

City Councilman Hal Bernson, who chairs the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Earthquake Recovery, is hopeful that owners will comply, but if they don’t, he said he would consider revoking the building’s occupancy permits.

“If we fail to get compliance, the next step may be to revoke their certificate of occupancy,” he said.

Of the 259 steel-frame buildings that the City Council targeted for inspections and repairs, the owners of 61 had failed as of Sept. 25 to submit inspection reports, most of which were due last December.

Even the owners of 10 buildings who were given extensions of up to six months to complete the inspections had failed to comply, according to city records.

Most of the 61 buildings are in the San Fernando Valley, with a dozen along Ventura Boulevard in Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills.

The damage inflicted on steel-frame buildings by the Northridge earthquake surprised many structural engineers who previously believed such frames were virtually immune to seismic forces.

In February 1995, the council adopted an ordinance that gave the owners six months to inspect the buildings and draft a repair plan. The ordinance then provides another three months to obtain repair permits and two additional years to complete the repairs.

The ordinance applies to steel-frame commercial buildings in the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, locations where damage has been most widespread.

Records for the 198 buildings that have completed inspections show that damage was widespread throughout the area, with some buildings reporting potentially dangerous cracks in the building joints.

For example, an inspection report of a four-story building on the 15000 block of Ventura Boulevard found that 34 of the 40 steel joints inspected, or 85%, were damaged.

An inspection of an eight-story building on the 11000 block of Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles found that 142 of the 178 joints inspected, or 80%, were damaged.

On the other hand, inspections of 57 of the 198 buildings, or 28%, found no damage to the steel joints.

Garry Myers, a structural engineer for the firm of Myers, Nelson, Houghton, said many of the uninspected buildings could pose a danger in another earthquake.

But Myers was not surprised that so many buildings remain uninspected, saying many building owners have already been hard hit by high vacancy rates and cannot afford the inspection costs.

“There is a hesitancy of building owners to spend any money in a weak market,” he said.

Richard Leyner, vice president of Capital Commercial Realty, a regionwide real estate firm, agrees, saying he has talked to many owners who are leery of starting the inspections.

“A lot of people are afraid to start digging holes in the walls because they may have to kick out tenants,” he said.

Martha Cox-Nitikman, a spokeswoman for the Building Owners and Managers Assn., said she and others are planning to ask the city to issue bonds to provide up to $200 million to help building owners pay for the inspections and repair work.

“We just don’t have it,” she said. “The cost is so high.”

In an interview, the owner of a three-story building near Universal City that city records indicate has failed to complete the inspection, disputes the records, saying an inspection was completed and no damage was found.

Also, Mark Hammerschmitt president of Preferred Financial Corp., said a bank building on the noncompliance list that his firm owns on Erwin Street in Woodland Hills is only one story with a mezzanine and therefore is too small to require an inspection.

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City’s List of Buildings Not Inspected

The City Council last year adopted deadlines for the inspection and repair of steel-frame buildings in the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles. The following is a list of buildings that the city’s Building and Safety Department says have yet to be inspected.

10339 Balboa Blvd.

1940 S. Bundy Drive

3400 Cahuenga Blvd.

3280 W. Cahuenga Blvd.

6200 Canoga Ave.

18321 Clark St.

9045 Corbin Ave.

15545 Devonshire St.

15650 Devonshire St.

16800 Devonshire St.

21945 Erwin St.

6433 Fallbrook Ave., Bldg. 269

6708 Foothill Blvd.

4705 Laurel Canyon Blvd.

10925 Lindbrook Drive

7230 Medical Center Drive

11301 W. Olympic Blvd.

12760 Osborne St.

21850 Oxnard St.

10680 N. Pico Blvd.

10800 W. Pico Blvd.

10850 W. Pico Blvd.

13720-13730 Riverside Drive

22110 Roscoe Blvd.

15535 San Fernando Mission Blvd.

1828 Sawtelle Blvd.

4827 Sepulveda Blvd.

1900 S. Sepulveda Blvd.

15350 Sherman Way

15410 Sherman Way

16650 Sherman Way

22122 Sherman Way

7301 Topanga Canyon Blvd.

7277 Valjean Ave.

4610 Van Nuys Blvd.

4340 Fulton Ave.

6001 Van Nuys Blvd.

6842 Van Nuys Blvd.

21515 Vanowen St.

6625 Vartel Ave.

15301 Ventura Blvd.

16501 Ventura Blvd.

16861 Ventura Blvd.

17327 Ventura Blvd.

17337 Ventura Blvd.

17404 Ventura Blvd.

17547 Ventura Blvd.

20750 Ventura Blvd.

22025 Ventura Blvd.

22151 Ventura Blvd.

22801 Ventura Blvd.

12345 Ventura Court

1350 Westwood Blvd.

1990 Westwood Blvd.

5300 White Oak Ave.

11859 Wilshire Blvd.

4730 Woodman Ave.

10889 Wilshire Blvd.

6601 Owensmouth Ave.

21900 Vanowen St.

21851 Victory Blvd.