In the wake of the 4.0 magnitude earthquake last night in Los Angeles, here are a few recent bullet points pertaining to the LA Seismic Retrofit Ordinance. The ordinance (which was passed in 2015 by the City of Los Angeles) mandated that all “soft story” multifamily properties 3+ units with ‘tuck-under’ parking be earthquake retrofitted to avoid collapsing, as some did in the 1994 Northridge quake.
The photos in this post are from a retrofit taking place at an 8-unit property in West Los Angeles right now. The total cost of this construction was approximately $70,000 to complete.
– 13,031 Total Soft Story Buildings in Los Angeles
– 5,813 properties completed seismic retrofits (as of 3/2021)
– 8,218 properties pending compliance (as of 3/2021)
– $52,000 is the average cost for a multifamily owner to retrofit
It should be noted that the City of Los Angeles passed this ordinance which effected multifamily owners without any clear cut options for them to finance the construction work. As a result, many multifamily owners in Los Angeles were forced to pay (in some instances) over $100,000 to comply with the ordinance. Many were forced to sell their properties as a result.
