BRENTWOOD NEWS CAMP GUIDE - SECTION B
INSIDE Century City/ Westwood
March 31 - April 28, 2023
NEWS
CenturyCity-WestwoodNews.com
60 New Housing Units for Veterans on VA Campus Building 207 is the first of 20 similar building rehab projects that will be undertaken at the VA By Jeff Hall On February 28, VA officials, builders, veterans and community leaders celebrated the opening of 60 new housing units for veterans inside Building 207. The formerly empty building has undergone significant rehab and upgrades in recent years. This is all part of a plan to build 1200 units of veteran housing on the VA campus, with a particular focus on providing permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless veterans. Building 207 is the first of 20 similar building rehab projects that will be undertaken at the VA. The project is a partnership between Tom Safran & Associates, Century Housing, The Veterans Collective and U.S. Vets. City,
county, state, federal and private groups provided funding. Brentwood’s Tom Safran of Tom Safran & Associates (TSA) – a developer of low-income housing – was the main speaker at the Feb. 28 event. Buildings designed by TSA include a big community space where residents can gather. This makes a building seem less institutional, according to Tyler Monroe of TSA. Tours of the building were provided. In Building 207, the community room includes comfortable couches, tables and chairs, TV screens, a pool table, desktop computers and a card table. Residential units include a bedroom, kitchenette, ample closet space and a bathroom. There are an estimated 3,900 homeless veterans living on the streets of Los Angeles County. Tanya Bradsher of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs came from Washington to underscore the VA’s commitment to providing housing for homeless veterans. “You fought for us,” she said. “And we will fight for you.”
Photos: Jeff Hall Tom Safran welcomes the crowd.
L.A.’s $100 Million Megamansions Are Getting Mega Price Cuts Properties see price cuts ahead of Measure ULA taking effect By Dolores Quintana Bel Air is home to this modern Spanish-style estate that has hit the market and has recently reduced its price while seeking a buyer as reported by The Wall Street Journal. It is an absolutely decadent paean to luxury living in the hills above the Westside of Los Angeles. With about 40,00 square feet of living space, this hillside abode has three stories filled with arched doorways, terraces, a 75-foot infinity pool that flows into a 20-foot waterfall, a movie theater, a basketball court, a wine cellar with 1,200 bottles and an underground parking garage with room for 20 vehicles.
Originally, the home was listed at $100 million but last month the development team decided to lower the price to $59 million which is an incredible price for such a magnificent showplace of a home. It represents a 41% reduction in the price from 2018. One of the listing agents for the home, Shawn Elliott of Nest Seekers International, said, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal, “We talked about what price would attract buyers but still be a pill [the developers] could swallow.” The listing agents and developers, Ty Cueva and Dean Hallo obviously came to an agreement on a price reduction. Because of the current economic climate, even luxury properties are facing the reality of price reductions since even the rich market in Los Angeles isn’t as open to that kind of spending anymore. Many developers and other sellers are trying to beat the new transfer tax law that is due to go into effect
on April 1, 2023, which will increase the prices paid on luxury sales to over five and ten million dollars. Another consideration is a land ordinance that will be on the ballot to protect a planned new conservation area in the Santa Monica Mountains which would inhibit development in the area, especially that of megamansions to protect the wildlife of the mountain wilderness. Luxury home sales have dropped dramatically to 51.9 percent in the last quarter of last year according to brokerage Douglas Elliman’s report which also shows that luxury homes now stay on the market an average of 96 days. That is a ten percent increase in the time it takes to sell an estate. This is a real turnaround from the salad days of the pandemic real estate boom. More information from the Elliman report claims that bidding wars on properties fell by half down to 24.5 percent and were down from a
50.7 percent high. Rayni Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates said, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal, “No buyer at this juncture wants to feel they’re paying 2021 or 2020 prices.” Ty Cueva estimated that the price of building that same home that he is selling in today’s market would be around $80 million if the rising costs of construction were factored into it and that the asking price is now below the replacement value.