Low-Income Senior Housing Proposed

A new low-income senior housing complex may be coming to the corner of Noble Avenue and Moorpark Street.

A representative for developer Danny Alpert recently began discussing the possibility with city officials and area residents.

“It’s in the earliest possible stages, but we have talked about it,” said Sharon Mayer, chief field deputy for Councilman Mike Feuer, adding that the developer has yet to file an application for the project.

During his meeting with city officials, Howard Katz, a housing consultant for Alpert, outlined preliminary plans for a 115-unit, four-story senior housing development. The project would require approximately 80 parking spaces. Katz said that Alpert has yet to decide on whether th development will be senior apartments or an assisted-living complex.

“It’s a great location for seniors, right near Ventura Boulevard,” Katz said. “They’re close to public transportation, shopping centers, everything they need. It’s a perfect match.”

Some local residents have already expressed reservations about the project.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said he is concerned about the development’s size, about three or four house lots across and four stories high, on the residential street.

“It seems way out of proportion with the single-family homes across the street,” he said.

Close added that the building will be two stories higher than the size limit allowed on nearby Ventura Boulevard, under the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan.

Katz, who did not return several phone calls, recently helped orchestrate the development of another similar senior housing complex in Sherman Oaks at the corner of Dickens Street and Cedros Avenue.

The site at Nobel and Moorpark has been an eyesore in the community for years. Currently, it’s a fenced-in hole in the ground filled with overgrown grass and weeds.

It has been that way since a developer started to construct condominiums on the land several years ago but scrapped the project due to a sluggish real estate market, Mayer said.