NORTHRIDGE : Repairs Boost Quake-Rocked Complex 6 Feet

Construction workers began a months-long process Wednesday to restore portions of a Northridge apartment complex that collapsed during last year’s earthquake.

Warped walls groaned as hydraulic jacks lifted a large section of the 300-foot-long, 50-foot-wide structure--inches at a time for several hours until the segment of the building was raised six feet above ground.

The 28-unit building broke into three separate segments when supports buckled during the quake, crushing the ground level garage into a layer of crumbled rock. More than 20 cars parked there became part of what were once second-story living rooms.

Tenants escaped the structure with only minor injuries.

Master Housemovers, the construction company coordinating the restoration of the 112-unit, four-building complex on Zelzah Avenue, said the building will be raised and mounted 12 feet above the ground to allow for the construction of a new parking area.

The company said reconstruction of the building was delayed because it was the most heavily damaged of the complex’s four buildings and, thus, saved for last.

Tenants can expect to move into the building in about four months, they said.

“Most of the building is still in good condition,” said Lamar McKay, owner of Master Housemovers. “The top floor is still completely intact, and the second floor is not badly damaged.”

Meanwhile, workers are scheduled to pull the automobiles out of the rubble in about four weeks to allow former tenants to recover personal items.

But former residents are cautioned not to rummage around until they are notified by mail that conditions near the still unstable building are safe.

As they bored through portions of the building to fit support blocks and hydraulic jacks into place, Master Housemovers workers said that signs of late-night expeditions for goods inside the damaged building are apparent many mornings.

Looters and former tenants expose themselves to serious danger by entering the fragile structure, they said.

“We cut those holes and people flocked in like quails,” said one worker. “They’re crazy.”

McKay said his company is interested in completing the job with as few interruptions as possible due to a large workload in earthquake-affected areas.

As the only company in the Valley with the equipment to lift and move heavily damaged structures, McKay’s Encino-based Master Housemovers was inundated with calls during the months after the quake.

“Things were moving pretty slow (in the construction industry) here before last year,” he said. “(Now) our major competitor drives about 100 miles to get to the Valley.”

The building’s owner, Fish Construction Co., would not comment on the reconstruction, but said the complex will meet current city codes.