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Encino Armenian center gets $1-a-year lease amid controversy

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  • Encino Armenian center gets $1-a-year lease amid controversy

    Los Angeles Register
    Aug 31 2014

    Encino Armenian center gets $1-a-year lease amid controversy

    BY JORDAN GRAHAM / STAFF WRITER


    A decrepit former Encino fire station that in recent years has
    attracted transients, drug users and copper thieves is set to become
    an Armenian community center on a property that some neighbors say Los
    Angeles is giving away for peanuts amid the city's fiscal crunch.

    The Glendale-based Armenian Cultural Foundation will rent the building
    from the city for 30 years at $1 per year, under the terms of a
    proposed lease that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved
    Tuesday. The agreement also stipulates the nonprofit organization must
    open a community center at the site within two years and invest an
    estimated $1.2 to $1.5 million to clean and improve the property.

    The decision comes 16 months after Councilman Paul Koretz and
    then-Councilman Eric Garcetti first proposed leasing the old fire
    station No. 83 at 5001 N. Balboa Blvd. to the nonprofit. But the
    process dragged on after their proposal was met with opposition from
    several Encino neighborhood groups.

    At Encino Charter Elementary School - where parking is so scarce that
    parents say teachers have to leave class throughout the day to feed
    street meters - the PTA tried repeatedly to convince the Los Angeles
    Unified School District to acquire the land to build a parking lot and
    multipurpose room, but the district balked at the idea.

    The Encino and Lake Balboa neighborhood councils both submitted
    community impact statements to the City Council saying they disagreed
    with the terms of the lease and the process the city undertook to rent
    the land. Other neighbors took issue that Los Angeles was opting to
    lease property with an estimated 30-year rental value of $6.6 million
    for almost nothing while the city projects it will face a $165 million
    budget deficit in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

    But Councilman Paul Koretz views the lease as a boon for Encino while
    simultaneously relieving the city of a long-held liability, said Paul
    Neuman, Koretz's director of communications.

    In 2006, a new fire station opened across the street from the old one,
    leaving the 65-year-old building to sit deserted. When the city
    offered the surplus property to other governmental departments and
    agencies, none wanted it. At one point during the eight-year vacancy,
    the city said it paid $18,000 in safety repairs after thieves removed
    asbestos insulation while scouring for valuable materials to steal.

    And while the city likely could have sold the site to developers with
    plans to build apartments or condos, Neuman said Koretz preferred to
    find a tenant who would benefit the community.

    "We in the city find value in doing these nonprofit leases and do them
    all over the city," Neuman said. "As was the case with the (2009)
    proposed sale of municipally-owned garages, the councilmember is
    concerned that we not squander long-term benefit and permanent value
    by disposing of city assets for short-term, one time gain."

    Los Angeles has routinely leased surplus property to nonprofits and
    other community organizations at a rate of $1 per year, and a simple
    City Clerk search revealed hundreds of similar motions dating back 30
    years.

    An Aug. 7 city report estimated the new community center would provide
    at least $16.9 million in economic community benefits over three
    decades, though the report did not indicate how that figure was
    calculated.

    Encino chapter member Shant Hagopian said that in addition to Armenian
    dance, Boy Scouts and sporting groups, the new center would boast
    youth tutoring, senior programming, community seminars and meeting
    space for the entire neighborhood.

    "It will be a community center for all of Encino," Hagopian said.
    "There is a large Armenian community in Encino to begin with, but
    there are opportunities for everyone to participate."

    The Armenian Cultural Foundation must begin construction on the center
    within nine months of when the lease is signed.

    http://www.losangelesregister.com/articles/city-604124-community-encino.html

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