Southeast : Motels to Give Way to 113-Home Project

Considering they’re buying into Pico Rivera’s first single-family residential development in a decade, 13 customers in three days may not be astounding. But it is to those who remember the scene at 7100 Rosemead Blvd. a year ago.

Before the city bought the property in central Pico Rivera last year, the property was a blight, home only to three run-down motels and a occasional drug bust, according to local sheriff’s deputies. But soon it will be the site of 113 homes.

The project’s first homeowners are expected to move in by next spring, although construction of the entire project--including a 130-unit senior citizens apartment complex--could take another three years, said Avi Brosh, director of Braemar Urban Ventures, the project’s development company.

Brosh said cooperation by the city’s redevelopment agency made the project possible. He said the agency negotiated to acquire various deeds to the property, then sold the entire site to Braemar.

City Manager Dennis Courtemarch said he was pleased that each of the first 13 homes sold went to area residents. “That’s encouraging that people want to stay” in the community.