Group Gets $103,000 More to Refurbish Complex

The City Council, which had already loaned a nonprofit housing corporation more than $4 million to purchase a vacant hotel complex, has decided to give the company an additional $103,000 to rehabilitate the once crime-plagued property.

The council gave the Southern California Housing Development Corp. the money for architectural and design costs for developing the Executive Lodge, a 203-room complex on Garvey Avenue, despite opposition from a council-appointed residents committee, which is urging a full review of the project.

The council is in exclusive negotiations with the corporation to turn the complex into a 100-unit apartment building for low- to moderate-income tenants.

The residents committee told council members this week that the rehabilitation cost--about $7.5 million--is too high and other developers should be allowed to bid on the project. The committee noted that despite the $4-million purchase price, an appraiser estimated the property’s value at $2.26 million.