It’s Not a View to Die for, Tenants Say

Perched high on a hillside, the four buildings that make up the Harborview apartment complex offer some of the most spectacular views in the city--with breathtaking vistas of the pier, the beach and the Channel Islands.

But citing numerous cracks, shifting soil and unsafe decks, some residents say they are moving out. The 90-unit complex, located at 275 N. Kalorama Drive, 333 N. Kalorama, 900 Tioga Drive and 880 Summit Drive, was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and owner James W. Boyd declared bankruptcy. The property went into receivership last year.

Although Boyd has recently reacquired the property and says he is close to getting millions of dollars in insurance money that will help him fix the buildings, some of the residents say they are leaving anyway.

Gloria Goldman worries that her $900 apartment may be dangerous, and she and some other residents believe the city should have declared the building unsafe and ordered the owner to stop renting units.

Bob Prodoehl, in charge of building inspections for the city of Ventura, agrees that the surface soil around the building is moving, but says the hillside apartments will hold firm, and there is no imminent danger.

In Southern California, where mudslides are common, and buildings are often built on steep hillsides, code inspectors are in a difficult position. When is a building so dangerous it needs to be evacuated? And when are cracks, holes and warping just normal wear and tear?

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In the case of the Harborview apartments, the building, the sidewalks, the ground and the parking lot show signs of movement. The city has recommended that 12 apartments be vacated because the floors need to be shored up to correct structural problems, and six are now empty. The question is what do the cracks mean.

Since Goldman moved into her spacious two-bedroom apartment in June, she says her rooms have cracked, creaked and warped to the point that she fears for her safety.

“It’s falling apart,” said Goldman, a code enforcement officer for the county. “It’s scary. The cracks are coming up so quickly. The sidewalks are collapsing.”

She and her upstairs neighbors, the Van Pattens, say they plan to move out--as soon as they can find another place.

Cracks line Goldman’s home and the complex’s driveway. She says they are moving fast, making noises in the night. The cement sidewalk leading to her door tilts precariously and pulls away from the wall. A wedge of cement has been spread across it to make it look even--swallowing up the base of the railing.

Inside, cracks run up the walls in jagged lines from door jambs and windows. Unexplained holes have appeared in the ground next to the buildings. Paul Van Patten, who lives above Goldman, says apartment manager Donna Harrison recommended that he keep himself and his heavy planters off the deck. Harrison denies that she has told anyone not to use their decks, but said the owner may have sent letters.

A concerned Goldman took her complaints to Prodoehl, the city inspector.

She was not the first.

Last September, Steve Heimler approached Prodoehl to warn him about the condition of the buildings. Heimler of HSC Real Estate Inc. was appointed by the Superior Court in April to manage and run the property, after the owner declared bankruptcy.

Because Heimler was holding the building in receivership, court orders limited the amount of money he could spend on repairs. But as he watched cracks spread, and stairways grow wobbly, he said he realized something had to be done.

“My hands were tied by the court order, but I felt that things were unsafe,” Heimler said. “There were repairs that needed to be done.”

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Heimler says he has never gone to the city with such a case before, and that his action is highly unusual--a last resort.

He said he was surprised by the city’s lack of action.

“The fact is I made the city abundantly aware, and told them it was in dangerous condition,” Heimler said. “They didn’t shut it down. In Los Angeles, there would have been a much harsher reaction from the city.”

Prodoehl said he visited the buildings.

“I saw their cracks, and I told [the residents] I did not think it was immediately life-threatening,” he said.

Goldman argues that the building has many of the conditions that would qualify it for “dangerous building” designation--including warping, uneven walking surfaces and even the threat of collapse of parts of the structure.

Prodoehl does not dispute that the building satisfies some of those conditions.

“If we were really nit-picky we could declare unsafe buildings all over the place,” Prodoehl said. “We have to go for the intent of the codes . . . and if these things get bad enough we will do something.”

Prodoehl said he is surprised at how well the aging buildings have held up, considering that there is soil movement in the area. He also said owner Boyd has promised that repairs will begin shortly.

Boyd says his apartments were struck severely by the Northridge earthquake. After three years of negotiations, he said, the insurance companies have agreed to pay him $4 million to $6 million in the near future. He said he plans to begin extensive repairs as soon as he gets that money.

“We are settling an insurance claim to this property into what it needs to be,” Boyd said from his Los Altos office. “We have prepared massive design documents to make this property better than new.”

He says he is getting a soils report, and that his structural engineer, John Ellias, has analyzed the structural deficiencies and made recommendations for repairs.

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Ellias, refused to talk to The Times about his findings but told Van Patten two weeks ago that there was definite soil movement.

Prodoehl says he is willing to wait.

“We are going to have to monitor it,” he said. “We don’t want to let Boyd off the hook. But we want to let him do his repair plans.”

But Goldman and the Van Pattens say they are not waiting around.

“I’m terrified,” Goldman said. “I’ve seen it all, and I have never seen anything like this.”