INGLEWOOD – The Inglewood Successor Agency appears to have established a long-term relationship with affordable housing developer Thomas Safran whose connections are widespread throughout Los Angeles County, even residents in nearby Watts are complaining about this developer.
Inglewood council agendas show a trail of tears from 1 W. Manchester Blvd to Safran’s many Inglewood projects.
Related articles on these projects
The City’s former Budget and Accounting Manager also took note of the preferred treatment of certain developers, in exchange for monies that no one is monitoring to ensure it is paid back.
Residents in Watts were also ringing the alarm about Safran’s activities, most likely in concert with elected officials who have a hand in the approval process.
In a rare move, Thomas Safran appeared to be very generous in his recent acquisition of land on the North end of Inglewood.
The city entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement for parcels located at 716-720 Beach Ave, and 722-730 Beach Ave (participating parcels).
The City ordered an appraisal and determined the fair market value of the home, as of January 25, 2020, to be $1.35 million, and the participating parcels to be worth a little over $2 million, for a combined total of $3,430,000.
Safran’s appraisal came in at $4,666,000.
Why would a developer offer to pay more than what the City believes the property is worth? Are the increased costs attributed to remediation?
Other properties, formerly owned by the redevelopment agency that was contaminated, were also sold to developers who filed legal claims related to remediation. KP Auto and Stan Kroenke to be exact.
The parcels at 716-720 W. Beach Ave. were owned by the Inglewood Housing Authority and was occupied by a long-time critic of Mayor Butts, and then a city employee.
They both complained about getting sick at the home and had to be placed in hotels on multiple occasions, for repairs to be made. It was an ongoing issue. The City employee’s rent on the two-bedroom one bath home was less than $700 per month. She would eventually move out and become the recipient of the #1 position in a subsequent housing lottery for first-time homebuyers.
Will we have another Ujimaa Village on our hands?
Read the full staff report by clicking here.
1 Comment
Interestingly! There must be a reason for such generosity. These were housing units which in normal circumstances should not require extensive soil cleanup.
These parcels are very unlike the KP auto parcels (some of which- during the Dorn years -were purchased at fair market value along with the nearby redevelopment parcels with the plan to become a multi dealership new car AutoMall) which previously had been used for auto repair shops, and the Stan Kroenke purchase of what had been the land formerly dotted with oil dericks until Hollywood stars Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Walt Disney, and others began to utilize the land for the Horse Track.
Clearly oil processing residue would require remediation but what pray tell could there be that needs equal or more remediation in an apartment complex ? Could it be the city ignored neighbor complaints of a drug making operation or worse ? In any case shouldn’t all Neighbors be made aware what they may be exposed to when construction begins and fugitive dust gets in the air we breathe?
Could it be the extra million is about future yet unrevealed projects? Or perhaps to distance the company from the failure to track gosh we forgot about loan payments ?
Whatever the motivation for the $ million difference- the Thomas Saffron projects do seem to be a benefactor of what appear to be the pay-to-play norm that has become the hallmark of election campaign contributions = special treatment from the Butts administration.
Consider those offense digital billboards and the campaign dollars Wow gave to the elect JTB Campaign.