August SoCal Home Prices Up 17 Percent Over Last Year

Southern California’s housing market hit new highs in August as sales pace strengthened and the regional median sales price jumped 17 percent from year-ago levels, according to figures from DataQuick Information Systems. The median sales price in the six-county region hit $476,000 last month , the seventh consecutive month the median has reached a record high. The median for existing houses was $501,000, passing the $500,000 mark for the first time. The median for resale condos was $403,000, passing the $400,000 mark for the first time. In L.A. County, the median sales price rose 21.4 percent from August of last year to $494,000, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Broadway Building Gets Loft Conversion


The historic Broadway department store building at one of the most famous intersections in Los Angeles is being converted to 96 luxury condominiums. Kor Group has started renovation of the 10-story building at the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street that opened in 1927 as a Dyas department store and later became a Broadway branch. It has been vacant for years. Units ranging from about 930 square feet to 2,000 square feet will be built at the Broadway building as open lofts with finished kitchens and bathrooms, said Tyson Sayles, senior vice president at Los Angeles-based Kor. Units are expected to be priced from $400,000 to $2 million when completed in mid-2006, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Neighbors Fear VA Plans for Westwood


The federal government’s vision for the Veterans Affairs complex in Westwood left nearby residents fretting Monday that it was fraught with loopholes and could lead to major development in the congested corridor. Several people who saw a report prepared by consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers said the government seemed to be opening the door to extensive development on the site and mixed-use residential areas that presumably would include retail or office space. Such uses, critics said, would abandon the pledge of a past VA secretary that the property would not be commercially developed. Proposals to redevelop the 387-acre VA campus have sparked heated debate for decades, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mayor Urges Search for Savings, Revenue


Confronting a $245 million shortfall as he prepares for his first budget, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa laid out guidelines Monday for department heads to meet his goals of a more efficient city. In a letter to general managers, Villaraigosa said the first budget sessions would look for efficiencies and savings, but he also asked the departments to look at areas where they could generate revenue from fees and services provided by the city, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. The city this year has a $5.9 billion operating budget and has faced annual deficits of between $100 million and $300 million in each of the past several years.

L.A. Schools Bleed Red Ink


Los Angeles Unified school board members will try again today to figure out how to pay for billions of dollars in retirement health benefits and workers’ compensation costs, a burden that weighs heavily on the district’s future. The issue has intermittently appeared on board agendas for the past eight months, but the discussion has always been tabled. Board member Mike Lansing said he doubts that either the district staff or the teachers union has the resolve or motivation to tackle the issue. A report from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office this year warned that soaring health care costs, generous employee contracts and the failure to earmark money for the expenses pose a serious danger, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported.

Grocers Won’t Be Fined for Grape Ads


Ralphs Grocery Co. and its sister supermarket chain Food 4 Less will avoid steep state fines for advertising Mexican-grown grapes as coming from California farms this summer, the Los Angeles Times reported. After investigating the incident, the California Department of Food and Agriculture decided not to ask the state attorney general to prosecute the two supermarket chains. The chains, both owned by Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., faced fines as high as $3,000 for every misadvertised bag of fruit sold. Both Ralphs and Food 4 Less confirmed in July that they had advertised Mexican grapes incorrectly as California grown.