Apartment Building

The city has agreed to acquire and rehabilitate a seven-unit apartment building on Catalina Street, and temporarily removing tenants while it does the work. The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, approved the deal Tuesday after a general discussion of affordable housing strategies and finances. The city paid $900,000 for the property and plans to spend more than $800,000 to fix up the building and pay relocation costs for the existing tenants. The work includes extensive repairs to the building's drainage system, installing energy-efficient kitchen and bathroom appliances, adding improved heating and air conditioning units and restoring an illegally converted studio so it again is part of a legal one-bedroom apartment.

Paul Clinton MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH -- The City Council has condemned a four-unit apartment building on Ontario Street to make way for a proposed condominium and child-care facility. The property owner now has 90 days to either sell the property or risk eviction. Acting as the Burbank Housing Authority, the council unanimously approved the condemnation of Evelia Goebelsmann's one-story building at 2246 N. Ontario St. The city has been negotiating with Goebelsmann for more than a year, Redevelopment Project Manager Jack Lynch said.

Arson investigators Monday evening were probing a blaze at a North Hollywood apartment building that left one person dead and four others injured. The fire broke out Monday morning at the two-story structure in the 5100 block of Riverton Avenue and engulfed an apartment unit with intense flames and choking smoke, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. "This was a well-involved, intense fire," department spokesman Erik Scott told The Times. The blaze was so hot that it blackened firefighters' helmets, and the thick smoke forced rescuers to use an infrared search device to find victims trapped in the structure.

Officials this week broke ground on a new affordable housing development that will feature 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The Catalina Development will be the first all-new residential project for the nonprofit Burbank Housing Corp. The nonprofit typically rehabs existing buildings to use for low-income housing, but the property on the 2200 block of Catalina Avenue was “so substandard and severely blighted” that nothing could be salvaged, Burbank Housing Corp Executive Director Judith Arandes said.

Mark R. Madler A Los Angeles man suffered a fatal, self-inflicted gunshot wound Friday and his estranged wife died shortly afterward in an apparent murder suicide near the woman's apartment, police said. The man, 46, fired several rounds from a handgun, striking the woman, 41, who was walking with another woman to a car in an underground parking garage of a two-story apartment building in the 200 block of Spazier Avenue, police said. He then shot himself, police said.

Lolita Harper HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- A Burbank man and his juvenile friend, also of Burbank, were arrested Wednesday after they allegedly burglarized the apartment of a classmate. Arthur Vardapetyan, 19, and his 17-year-old friend, whose name was not released because of his age, were arrested after the victim of their alleged crime recognized them as they walked out of the apartment complex. The victim told police he saw the two in the parking structure of his apartment building carrying a large bag filled with items, Burbank Police Sgt. John Dilibert said.

DOWNTOWN BURBANK -- Four apartments and a single-family home have been added to the city's stock of affordable housing following the approval of a lease agreement between the City Council and the Burbank Housing Corp. The city will loan the housing corporation $220,000 to refurbish the home in the 400 block of Valencia Avenue and the four-unit apartment building in the 300 block of Valencia Avenue. The City Council approved the agreement Jan. 31. Councilwoman Marsha Ramos said that not a week goes by when she doesn't receive phone calls about affordable housing in the city and the need for assistance.

Ben Godar Those who live near the apartment building where a man fired shots at police Thursday say it's not the first time the complex has been the site of trouble. Residents of the Griffith Park Apartments and Dude Ranch at 400 Paula Ave. and others who live near the 78-unit complex were evacuated after the man began shooting at police and toward the Golden State (5) Freeway from his apartment about 11:10 a.m. Neighbors and residents said numerous other problems have occurred at the apartment building.

Mark R. Madler Burbank Police have hit upon their first major break in the murder case of Sharon Anne Santos -- arresting the maintenance man from the apartment building where she lived. But investigators on Friday stopped short of calling Eriberto Rodriguez, 43, a suspect in Santos' disappearance and death of last summer, and instead are calling him a person of interest. Santos, 30, had gone missing after returning to her apartment on Scott Road on Aug. 17 from her job with Warner Bros.

Family and friends of a Burbank woman who disappeared last August and was later found murdered will gather Saturday for a memorial in her honor. Burbank Police, meanwhile, continue their investigation into the death of Sharon Anne Santos and have not ruled out a maintenance man from Santos's apartment building as a person of interest in the case. Santos, 30, had gone missing after returning to her apartment on Scott Road on Aug. 17, 2004, from her job as a financial analyst with Warner Bros.

Arson investigators Monday evening were probing a blaze at a North Hollywood apartment building that left one person dead and four others injured. The fire broke out Monday morning at the two-story structure in the 5100 block of Riverton Avenue and engulfed an apartment unit with intense flames and choking smoke, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. "This was a well-involved, intense fire," department spokesman Erik Scott told The Times. The blaze was so hot that it blackened firefighters' helmets, and the thick smoke forced rescuers to use an infrared search device to find victims trapped in the structure.

An 80-year-old man drove his car into an apartment building Wednesday, puncturing gas and water lines, which prompted an evacuation of the building, police said. At around 8:30 p.m., the motorist rammed into a first-floor apartment in the 400 block of East Tujunga Avenue after accidentally pressing the gas pedal of his 2003 Toyota Camry in the building's parking structure, said Burbank Police Sgt. Darin Ryburn. When police arrived, water was shooting out of damaged pipes, and there was a strong smell of natural gas through the area.

A 28-year-old Tujunga man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempted burglary in Burbank after a witness saw the man hanging by his hands and shuffling across the wall of an apartment building, police said. A witness allegedly saw the man, Vage Ovsepyan, scale the wall to get to a second-floor patio in an attempt to enter an apartment, police said. Seven officers responded to the scene in the 600 block of East Angeleno Avenue at about 11 p.m.  Sgt. Darin Ryburn said. “When officers arrived they talked to a witness who said she was awakened by a noise, looked out and saw a man hanging by his hands, shuffling across the wall and then jump onto the patio on the second floor,” Ryburn said.

Officials this week broke ground on a new affordable housing development that will feature 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The Catalina Development will be the first all-new residential project for the nonprofit Burbank Housing Corp. The nonprofit typically rehabs existing buildings to use for low-income housing, but the property on the 2200 block of Catalina Avenue was “so substandard and severely blighted” that nothing could be salvaged, Burbank Housing Corp Executive Director Judith Arandes said.

The city has agreed to acquire and rehabilitate a seven-unit apartment building on Catalina Street, and temporarily removing tenants while it does the work. The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, approved the deal Tuesday after a general discussion of affordable housing strategies and finances. The city paid $900,000 for the property and plans to spend more than $800,000 to fix up the building and pay relocation costs for the existing tenants. The work includes extensive repairs to the building's drainage system, installing energy-efficient kitchen and bathroom appliances, adding improved heating and air conditioning units and restoring an illegally converted studio so it again is part of a legal one-bedroom apartment.

CITY TO REVISIT BURBANK AND GLENDALE ARMORIES The City Council on Tuesday approved reopening negotiations with the city of Glendale, Airport Authority and California National Guard concerning possible consolidation and relocation of the Burbank and Glendale National Guard armories. Talks between the parties broke down in 2003 when it was determined that the state could not provide necessary funding for the joint armory, which was to be located on a parcel of land owned by the Bob Hope Airport.

Urban Anthony Jones found more than $40,000 in a plastic bag on a Los Angeles street, but he didn’t keep the money. He instead returned the cash to its rightful owner because, he said, it was instinct. The 21-year-old Burbank High School graduate returned home from watching a movie with his girlfriend about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 3 when he saw his neighbor, Al Greenblat, outside their Los Angeles apartment building rummaging through trash next to a discarded mattress. He noticed Greenblat was not acting like his usual self and the right side of his face was bruised.

SENIOR CELEBRATES 104TH BIRTHDAY Faye Allen celebrated her 104th birthday Oct. 19 at Le Bleu Chateau Assisted Living facility in Burbank. Activity Director Luz Palmer planned a big celebration for her with birthday cake and decorations. Allen was born in 1904. She was married in 1923 and they had only one son. She worked at Montgomery Wards in the sales department in Oakland. She and her husband came to Burbank in 1972 and lived in an apartment building that is now the Warner Bros.

A tenant of an apartment building owned by the husband of City Councilwoman Anja Reinke was arrested Friday morning after police reportedly found a small bomb in his car. A vehicle driven by Bryan Weisburg, 22, was pulled over for a traffic violation at 8:45 a.m. at Moss Street and Magnolia Boulevard. Burbank police performed a routine check of the vehicle and found a glass test-tube filled with explosives, Sgt. Thor Merich said. The Los Angeles County sheriff’s bomb squad was called and disabled the bomb.

CITY HALL — The Burbank City Council approved an additional $2.6 million in Redevelopment Agency funds for the Peyton-Grismer revitalization project, run by the Burbank Housing Corp. The money adds to the $13.1 million the housing corporation received in 2003 to purchase and reconstruct apartment buildings along Grismer Avenue and Elliott Drive in northwest Burbank for low-income tenants. The council allocated the money to uplift the blighted area, which increased the number of the housing corporation’s redeveloped properties to 28. “As with other focus neighborhoods, the approach was to acquire and rehabilitate several distressed properties affecting the immediate neighborhood, and have the Burbank Housing Corp.