LA Landlords Seismic Retrofit 6K properties

Around 5K buildings owners have not submitted retrofit plans to comply with the mandatory order, as Northridge quake’s 25th anniversary nears.

A soft-story apartment building that collapsed on cars parked underneath it

The Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings across Los Angeles and a quarter century later, a citywide effort to retrofit vulnerable buildings is progressing, though plenty of work remains.

Property owners have retrofitted around 1,500 vulnerable buildings since the city started its mandatory program in 2015, and work is underway at around 6,400 buildings citywide, according to Curbed. But owners of another 5,000 buildings haven’t yet submitted retrofitting plans, the first step in the process.

The city has sent orders to comply with the program to all of the 12,865 “soft-story” buildings that need the upgrades. There are another 1,500 or so larger concrete buildings that need retrofits, but owners have 25 years to complete that process and around 160 have already started it.

Retrofits can cost around $130,000 for a typical soft-story apartment building, but could run into the millions for larger concrete buildings. Some owners have simply sold off their vulnerable buildings instead retrofitting them.

The L.A. City Council allowed last year for landlords to pass along a portion of the costs of retrofitting to tenants, but other area cities have not. The West Hollywood City Council voted last year to bar landlords from charging such pass-along fees at the

750 vulnerable buildings in the city. [Curbed] — Dennis Lynch

About Us

Real Estate and Business Veteran, Gordon Myers founded Soft Story Advisors out of the real need he witnessed daily, in the field.

Building Owners are stressed and concerned with hiring the best contractor and/or engineer to comply with various city ordinances because they know that a bad decision can be a very expensive and painful experience.

Licensed as a Realtor in 1988, Gordon has been actively buying, selling, developing, managing and investing in real estate and can easily recognize a one-sided deal vs. a good, fair one!

He immediately recognized the opportunity and foresaw the chaos when the Ordinance came out, requiring that approx. 12,500 city-identified, multi-family dwellings do the necessary work to support their “soft story,” buildings to better withstand a significant earthquake.

Lessons were learned from Northridge in 1994, and again in Mexico in 2017, providing evidence that Soft Story Buildings are more likely to collapse with any lateral movement during a strong earthquake.

 

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