Syd Leibovitch, founder, president and owner of Rodeo Realty and the owner of the commercial building at 839 Via de la Paz in Pacific Palisades, has had his newly constructed building finished for three months. There is only one thing he is missing before he can officially reopen the building: power.
“It’s been very challenging. All we really need is a wire hooked up,” said Leibovitch. “We just need the wire moved from the temporary power to the permanent power, and we can open up. The sad thing is, there were 80 real estate agents there on January 7, and 30 of them lost their houses and everything they own. So it’d be great to get them back to work.”
Leibovitch said he is waiting for inspections to be completed and for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to hook up the power, but slow response times and a lack of communication have presented a major hurdle.
In addition to the commercial lot along Via de la Paz, Leibovitch owns four residential properties in Pacific Palisades: 16844 Monte Hermoso Drive, 800 Radcliffe Avenue, 1117 Cumbre Alta Court and 1636 Chastain Parkway. Leibovitch has completed work on the Monte Hermoso property—which was not completely destroyed in the Palisades Fire—but Leibovitch said work at all four properties has been delayed by the LADWP.
Like the commercial property on Via de la Paz, Leibovitch finished construction on the Radcliffe Avenue property months ago.
“[Via de la Paz and Radcliffe] would be complete within three weeks if they hooked up a wire,” said Leibovitch.
Leibovitch said he has also encountered issues at his other two properties, which are in earlier stages of the rebuilding process. At 1117 Cumbre Alta Court, he said he waited about four months for temporary power for an inspection. Eventually, he bought a generator to continue work, and that home is now drywalled. Now, he is struggling to obtain a temporary power permit for 1636 Chastain Parkway.
“You can’t build a house without power, and you can’t complete a house without power,” he said. “It’s the most significant problem that there is. I’ve been doing construction for over 40 years. I’ve built everywhere—Malibu, Los Angeles, Calabasas, Ventura County. I’ve never in my life ever experienced anything like this.”