Condominium

The City Council authorized condominium conversions for the first time since an ordinance restricting such conversion was adopted in 1983. The action, approving the conversion of 13 rental units to condominiums, came as the council unanimously adopted the results of a rental survey showing a 4.1% vacancy rate in April. The city ordinance prohibits condominium conversion when the rental vacancy rate is below 4%.

You know Los Angeles has become a tough real estate market when it's hard for even Jon Gray to find a bargain. “It's become harder, because the pricing has moved up,” said Gray, the global head of real estate for private equity firm Blackstone Group. “L.A. is probably the toughest market.” As chief of one of the world's largest real estate investment funds, with $60 billion in assets, Gray is the walking embodiment of the term “smart money.” To put it succinctly, he is “the man with the bank account,” which was how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced him Thursday at a chummy ceremony in downtown's Arts District.

Actor Wentworth Miller has made a break in Hancock Park, selling his condominium there for $1.275 million. In a French Normandy-style building constructed in 1926, the unit includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a fireplace in 1,638 square feet. The remodeled condo features golf course views, walnut floors, custom built-ins in the dining room and a turret. The building has 24-hour security and valet parking. Miller, 40, starred in "Prison Break" from 2005-09 and in the 2010 film "Resident Evil: Afterlife.

A man who allegedly crashed a Bentley belonging to Lakers player Jordan Hill early Saturday morning was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving at Hill's condominium complex, authorities said. Michael Lacey, 26, allegedly ran the car into the condo complex at 13900 Marquesas Way in Marina del Rey shortly before 2 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. Police found the wrecked vehicle unattended and located Lacey inside Hill's condominium. The Laker was home at the time.

Orange County sheriff's deputies were seeking three men Wednesday in connection with an armed robbery at a Laguna Hills condominium complex. Lt. Dick Olson said three men surprised Michael Richard Webster, a 31-year-old construction foreman, and his brother, Steven, as they walked downstairs to leave their Sage Hill condominium shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

From her children's bedroom window, Julie Wisniewski can see the two-bedroom condominium where James Crummel lives. "I put all the blinds down now, because I'm afraid," said Wisniewski, who has two daughters, ages 4 and 15. "The kids can't go out and play like they used to. . . . They're prisoners in their own home."

You know Los Angeles has become a tough real estate market when it's hard for even Jon Gray to find a bargain. “It's become harder, because the pricing has moved up,” said Gray, the global head of real estate for private equity firm Blackstone Group. “L.A. is probably the toughest market.” As chief of one of the world's largest real estate investment funds, with $60 billion in assets, Gray is the walking embodiment of the term “smart money.” To put it succinctly, he is “the man with the bank account,” which was how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced him Thursday at a chummy ceremony in downtown's Arts District.

Puerto Penasco: A caption with a Feb. 24 Travel article on Puerto Penasco, Mexico, said the photo showed an indoor pool at Las Palomas condominium complex.The pool is part of the Mayan Palace condominium complex.

A man who allegedly crashed a Bentley belonging to Lakers player Jordan Hill early Saturday morning was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving at Hill's condominium complex, authorities said. Michael Lacey, 26, allegedly ran the car into the condo complex at 13900 Marquesas Way in Marina del Rey shortly before 2 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. Police found the wrecked vehicle unattended and located Lacey inside Hill's condominium. The Laker was home at the time.

On his 17th birthday, Kevin Earl Hindmarsh was found guilty Thursday on two counts each of murder and sodomy with a foreign object in the slayings of two Palos Verdes Peninsula girls last May. The Rancho Palos Verdes teen-ager, who was tried as an adult, faces 72 years to life in state prison. Torrance Superior Court Judge Cecil J. Mills set sentencing for March 14. The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for three days. Hindmarsh did not take the stand during the five-day trial.

Matthew Gordon Lasner is the official biographer of the condominium. (Well, as official as these things get, anyway.) Several years ago, the assistant professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College in New York became curious about how condo ownership of apartments, town houses and their legal cousins, co-ops, became ubiquitous in this country in so short a time. "Like everybody else, I just presumed they began in the 1960s and grew from there," Lasner said. But he started digging through legal documents, news reports and historical records, tracing the birth of the "owner-occupied apartment" to a building (alas, long since demolished)

From the beginning, the death of professional tennis umpire Lois Goodman's husband was beset by contradictions. When Alan Goodman, 80, was found dead in April at the couple's Woodland Hills condominium, paramedics noticed a suspicious cut to the side of his head. But Los Angeles police initially agreed with Lois Goodman's account that her ailing husband had fallen down a flight of stairs. Days later, a coroner's investigator found that the injuries were consistent with being struck by a sharp object.

Actor Wentworth Miller has made a break in Hancock Park, selling his condominium there for $1.275 million. In a French Normandy-style building constructed in 1926, the unit includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a fireplace in 1,638 square feet. The remodeled condo features golf course views, walnut floors, custom built-ins in the dining room and a turret. The building has 24-hour security and valet parking. Miller, 40, starred in "Prison Break" from 2005-09 and in the 2010 film "Resident Evil: Afterlife.

More than half the units in downtown L.A.'s most prominent residential tower are finally sold as the region's long-suffering condominium market turns around, industry observers said. Foreign investors and wealthy Southern California residents in search of a pied-a-terre have helped drive sales over the halfway mark at the Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. Live, developer AEG said. The condos were planned during the housing boom of the mid-2000s, when AEG decided to crown its $2.5-billion L.A. Live entertainment, restaurant, office and hotel complex with 224 condos that would be serviced by the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

PGA champion Tiger Woods has sold his condominium in Corona del Mar for $2,213,875. The town-house-style unit features an open-plan living room on the second story to take advantage of views of Santa Catalina Island. Features include high ceilings, a balcony, three bedrooms, a loft, three bathrooms and 2,000 square feet of living space. Woods, 36, once the holder of top spot in the world of golf, ranked second after a third-place finish in late July at the Open Championship. Public records show he bought the property in 2004 for $3 million.

The Venice compound of the late actor, photographer and artist Dennis Hopper has sold for $5 million. The property includes an industrial-inspired main house of about 5,000 square feet, a pool house, a guest cottage and three two-story condominiums for a total of seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 9,595 square feet of living space. The main house, with a corrugated metal exterior, was designed by Brian Murphy; the condominiums by Frank Gehry. Hopper, who died in 2010 at 74, starred in and directed "Easy Rider" (1969)

Police said they found nothing to suggest foul play in the death of a woman who was heard screaming from inside a building being fumigated. Linda Williams, 37, died at a hospital Monday after being pulled from her condominium several hours after the fumigation had begun. Police Lt.

The Beverly Hills home of the late Bernie West , a writer and producer on the 1970s and '80s television shows "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and "Three's Company," is on the market at $3.15 million. The contemporary condominium, built in 1993, features direct elevator access, 11-foot ceilings, a dining terrace, a library/den, four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms. Its 5,066 square feet of living space are on one level. West, who died last year at 92, shared a writing Emmy in 1973 for the groundbreaking sitcom "All in the Family.

Poor old Noor should be allowed to rest in peace. He earned that with a thoroughbred racing season in 1950 that track old-timers remember fondly. Endangering Noor's after-life resting place is that great American symbol of progress and ingenuity, the real estate development. Noor currently rests in Grass Valley, in the old gold mining country near Nevada City, Calif. His resting place is the former site of Loma Rica Ranch, which is on the drawing boards for eventual bulldozers, leading to cement and condominiums.