REVIVING A `GHOST TOWN' : REPAIRS TO BEGIN AT COMPLEX.

Byline: Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writer

Steven Watenmaker has lived in the shadow of a San Fernando Valley ``ghost town'' for more than two years, and he's ready for the nightmare to end.

He's put up with the transients and drug dealers who drift in and out of the abandoned, earthquake-damaged condominium complex behind his home.

And he's reluctantly learned to live with the graffiti splashed on the buildings' outer shells, the mosquitoes from stagnant pools of water, and the constant noise of creaking hinges and slamming doors every time a breeze kicks up.

``Personally, I don't understand why they didn't tear the whole thing down,'' said the frustrated Watenmaker, 49. ``It hurts the neighborhood.''

The 131-unit Reseda complex is one of 14 San Fernando Valley ghost towns created by the Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge Quake. Rebuilding has begun in 13 of them, but not the complex at Victory Boulevard and Tampa Avenue behind Watenmaker's house.

That's about to change, however. City officials say renovations to turn the condos into rental apartments are scheduled to begin in two weeks - a milestone in their efforts to breathe life back into once vibrant housing communities.

``I think we're coming out of the last turn, if you will, toward the finish line,'' said Daniel Falcon, manager of the city's ghost town finance unit.

About 65 percent of the 301 damaged ghost town buildings in the city have been refurbished. Nearly two-thirds of the rest are in various stages of repair, according to the city Housing Department's most recent figures.

Repairs for all but two of the ghost town buildings have been funded with more than $200 million in loans from banks, the Small Business Administration and the city, which distributed to the ghost towns about $98 million in federal disaster aid, officials said.

``We've lined up financing for 99 percent of the buildings. That's a significant increase from last April,'' Falcon said. ``You'd like to have the things done overnight. Unfortunately, those things take a fair amount of time.''

By contrast, demolition and repair work has stalled on nearly 400 individual abandoned, earthquake-damaged buildings scattered throughout the city, most of them in San Fernando Valley neighborhoods.

Federal earthquake assistance ran out last July. City Building and Safety officials are seeking $2 million in block grant money to secure or raze some of the worst buildings, and the city is seeking $40 million more in disaster assistance to deal with the remainder.

City inspectors dubbed 17 city areas ghost towns because of the high concentration of abandoned, unlivable units in apartment buildings and town-home and condominium complexes.

Two years and three months after the 6.7-magnitude temblor, only the Devonshire ghost town - five apartment buildings in the 16600 block of Devonshire Street in Northridge - is repaired completely.

Life there returned to normal in June.

The De Soto ghost town, eight buildings on De Soto Avenue in Chatsworth, is expected to be the second removed from the list. Only two buildings await reopening, and work is expected to finish on those in the next two months, Falcon said.

After that, Falcon said, the Hatteras ghost town in Tarzana and the Lassen ghost town near Cal State Northridge should be the next to return to normalcy.

Falcon said 95 percent of all repairs could be completed by September.

``I think we've done a very, very good job up to a recent point. The ghost towns are virtually all taken care of,'' said Councilman Hal Bernson, whose district had five ghost towns, including the one on Devonshire. ``We've made a lot of progress, but there's still a lot to go.''

Maria Reyna and Jose Herrera of North Hills would agree the work's not finished.

The married couple manages an apartment building on Orion Street, in the heart of a two block-long ghost town just north of Parthenia Avenue, where nine buildings were damaged.

Though thankful two of the buildings have been restored, the couple said the yet untouched apartment complex across the street continues to cause them angst.

Herrera said they are having trouble renting units in their building. Prospective tenants drive by without stopping, when they see the debris and broken-down furniture in piles in front of the abandoned, dilapidated two-story structure across the street.

``It really looks like a ghost house, a ghost building,'' Herrera, 38, said. ``It's dark, the plants are growing up, nobody is taking care of it.''

``They see something like that, they say well, maybe it's not that good a place,'' added Reyna, 38.

City leaders said they understand the frustration of residents who live near the rows of crumbling structures, which attract transients and vandals in droves.

``I have a lot of understandably unhappy, neighboring residents,'' said City Councilwoman Laura Chick, whose district was home to four of the ghost towns, including the one at Victory and Tampa.

Falcon said some delays have been caused by the inability to find property owners - especially in condominium complexes like the Victory/Tampa ghost town, which was owned by a cooperative of people scattered throughout the nation.

In other cases the owners have been wary about rebuilding, or are trying to sell their property to someone else who will.

Some of the larger buildings are just taking longer, Falcon said, because of the sheer magnitude of repairs.

As for the Victory/Tampa ghost town, a willing developer for the property stepped forward about a year ago. But only within the last few months have the more than 100 individual unit owners agreed to sell, said Ken Bernstein, planning deputy for Chick.

``I'll be happy once it gets started,'' Watenmaker said. ``There's no doubt about it.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, map, box

PHOTO (1 -- color) Steve Watenmaker of Resedasays the abandoned Tampa Manor Condominiums near his home have been a nightmare.

(2 -- color) Work to convert the complex into apartments is set to begin in two weeks.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News

Map: Ghost towns rebuilding after the quake 

Box: Legend (list of ghost town neighborhoods)