SHERMAN OAKS : $1.5 Million OKd for Senior Citizen Housing Complex

The Los Angeles Housing Department has tentatively approved spending $1.5 million for the construction of a 100-unit senior citizens housing development in Sherman Oaks, a city housing official said Monday.

The expenditure is part of the settlement of a 1991 lawsuit against the city in which a developer contended that the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan unfairly halted his project planned for Ventura Boulevard at Woodman Avenue. The site, a blocklong stretch of prime real estate, has since housed a string of run-down vacant buildings that city officials want destroyed because they attract vagrants and present a health hazard.

“We really hope this clears the path for the demolition of the structures that are there,” said Vivian Rescalvo, planning deputy for City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, “and to build something that will better serve the community.”

The structure will include 8,500 square feet of retail space.