This article is part of “The Housing Divide: Making it in Long Beach,” a series of stories from the Long Beach Media Collaborative examining the impacts of the statewide housing crisis on our city. The collaborative was initiated by the Long Beach Community Foundation and is funded by the Knight Foundation. Visit longbeachmc.org for more articles in this series and the award-winning previous series, “The Digital Divide: Strengthening the Signal.”

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Catherine Yang has walked into the same metal, gated entrance of her two-story apartment building, squeezed between rows of wooden garages painted orange, for the past nine years.

That’s how long 1761 Park Ave., in Long Beach, has been her home. But sometime within the next two months, she was notified recently, she’ll have to move.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said Wednesday, July 31.

On July 29, a Monday, she — and many of her neighbors in her building and in the next-door complex, at 1741 Park Ave. — came home from the first day of the work week to a letter taped to her door with the unmistakable all-caps heading: “60-day notice to move out.”

By the end of the following day, more than two dozen units in the two buildings had received the same letter, tenants said.

Catherine Yang holds her 60-day eviction notice at her apartment complex on Park Avenue in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Many tenants at adjacent apartments buildings on Park Avenue have been receiving 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change of the buildings. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Chase Arenella stands in the courtyard of his Park Avenue apartment in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Arenella and his neighbors are fearing receiving eviction notices. Six of the 18 units in his building have received 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Neighbors Chase Arenella, left, and Jocelyne Cortez talk outside their Park Avenue apartment in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Arenella, Cortez and their neighbors are fearing receiving eviction notices. Six of the 18 units in their building have received 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

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A tenant named Joey gets emotional as she talks about having to move her family from her apartment on Park Avenue in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Many tenants at adjacent apartments buildings on Park Avenue have been receiving 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change of the buildings. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Residents at this 51-unit apartment complex on Park Avenue have been receiving eviction notices in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Many tenants at adjacent apartments buildings on Park Avenue have been receiving 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change of the buildings. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)



Conchitina Echon holds her 60-day eviction notice from her apartment complex on Park Avenue in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Many tenants at adjacent apartments buildings on Park Avenue have been receiving 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change of the buildings. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Residents of this Park Avenue apartment complex are fearful of being evicted in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Many tenants at adjacent apartments buildings on Park Avenue have been receiving 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change of the buildings. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Neighbors Chase Arenella, left, and Jocelyne Cortez talk outside their Park Avenue apartment in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Arenella, Cortez and their neighbors are fearing receiving eviction notices. Six of the 18 units in their building have received 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Chase Arenella looks over a change of ownership notice he received at his Park Avenue apartment in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Arenella and his neighbors are fearing receiving eviction notices. Six of the 18 units in his building have received 60-day eviction notices after a recent ownership change. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

The property management company, in a statement, said the owners plan to renovate some — but not all — of the units and “promptly” issued the notices once they took control of the property.

The notices are part of what housing advocates say is a citywide issue, with tenants kicked out of their apartments so landlords can renovate the properties. The city, though, has tried to solve the problem: it recently enacted a relocation ordinance that requires property owners to pay renters who get evicted through no fault of their own.

But that, along with the timing of the notices, has added insult to injury, the Park Avenue residents said: If those letters had been issued three days later, on or after Aug. 1, the tenants would have been entitled to relocation assistance payments.

“It seems like they’re trying to get away with something that obviously will save them thousands of dollars, if they try to push this through beforehand,” Chase Arenella, one of the tenants, said, “but this is what that law was fighting against.”

But the property management company said it did not intend to skirt the new law.

“We and the owner will always comply with local laws and ordinances with respect thereto,” Austin Rogers, president of COAR Property Management, said in a statement. “If any future notices implicate the new relocation ordinance we will comply.”

‘The Housing Divide: Making it in Long Beach’ — also in this series …

PART ONE: Finding a place to live in Long Beach, amid historic housing crisis, can be a cut-throat game. This is why.

Finding a place to live in Long Beach, amid historic housing crisis, can be a cut-throat game. This is why. PART TWO: How some hard-working people are striving to get often long-homeless veterans off the streets of Long Beach.

How some hard-working people are striving to get often long-homeless veterans off the streets of Long Beach. PART THREE: Long Beach officials offer a glimpse of projected inclusionary housing policies.

Long Beach officials offer a glimpse of projected inclusionary housing policies. PART FOUR: Finding an affordable home? It’s tough enough for many around the community — but can be even more challenging for the disabled.

Finding an affordable home? It’s tough enough for many around the community — but can be even more challenging for the disabled. PART FIVE: In a city where the vacancy rate is 3.8 percent and rental prices are escalating, one way to help ease the crunch is by encouraging accessory-dwelling units, which Long Beach officials refer to as “invisible density.” They can include garages converted into “granny flats” and back-yard apartments in the back of single-family homes.

In a city where the vacancy rate is 3.8 percent and rental prices are escalating, one way to help ease the crunch is by encouraging accessory-dwelling units, which Long Beach officials refer to as “invisible density.” They can include garages converted into “granny flats” and back-yard apartments in the back of single-family homes. PART SIX: Those working to find permanent homes for veterans in need find it’s a challenging process, and a ceaseless one, made more difficult due to the lack of affordable housing and prevention programs, experts say.

Those working to find permanent homes for veterans in need find it’s a challenging process, and a ceaseless one, made more difficult due to the lack of affordable housing and prevention programs, experts say. PART SEVEN: The city recently passed a relocation-assistance ordinance to provide financial help to renters forced to move through no fault of their own. The law goes into effect Thursday, Aug. 1. Tenants-rights advocates contend the law is necessary to protect often cash-strapped tenants in what they say is a citywide problem. Opponents of the law, though, say it is a burden to property owners and ultimately hurts renters.

The city recently passed a relocation-assistance ordinance to provide financial help to renters forced to move through no fault of their own. The law goes into effect Thursday, Aug. 1. Tenants-rights advocates contend the law is necessary to protect often cash-strapped tenants in what they say is a citywide problem. Opponents of the law, though, say it is a burden to property owners and ultimately hurts renters. PART EIGHT: A look at Section 8 subsidies, the federal government’s major program to assist low-income, elderly and disabled people to secure housing in the private market.

A look at Section 8 subsidies, the federal government’s major program to assist low-income, elderly and disabled people to secure housing in the private market. PART NINE: These Long Beach renters wee forced to move days before new city law would entitle them to thousands in relocation payments.

For more on this project, and the Long Beach Media Collaborative, log on to longbeachmc.org.

In June, the City Council approved the new law, which requires landlords to pay tenants who are forced to move through no fault of their own, including because of a 10% or higher rent hike.

The amount property owners have to pay depends on the size of the unit. That number, which will be updated periodically, is $2,706 for a studio; $3,235 for a one-bedroom; $4,185 for a two-bedroom; and $4,500 for a unit with three bedrooms or more.

In an effort to give landlords time to prepare for the new law, the City Council opted not to put it into effect until Thursday, Aug. 1. But the renters in 1741 and 1761 Park Ave. said they believe that buffer simply created a deadline for property-owners.

Representatives in the City Attorney’s Office acknowledged the ordinance could have been better implemented.

And, they said, they were aware of some, but not many, other instances of tenants being forced to move just ahead of Aug. 1.

“We haven’t gotten a lot of calls one way or the other,” Assistant City Attorney Mike Mais said Wednesday. “But that type of issue (that the Park Avenue residents are facing) should go away after the ordinance becomes effective on Aug. 1.”

But that’s not definitive. Although the opinion of the City Attorney’s Office is that the law only applies to landlords who issue notices after the law became effective, Mais and Deputy City Attorney Rich Anthony both said the courts may read the ordinance differently, should tenants like Yang choose to sue.

Long Beach officials could not say how many tenants received 60-day notices in the weeks and months leading up to the relocation ordinance going into effect, because the city did not have a way to track it. They will be able to track that now, though, because the new law requires landlords to inform the city when they make relocation-assistance payments. Since the law went it effect, the city has only received some calls and emails from landlords — and tenants — asking questions about the new law, said Rick De La Torre, spokesman for Long Beach’s Development Services.

Yang, Arenella and their neighbors have been in touch with lawyers, who have told the tenants there’s not much they can do on the legal front.

But, Arenella said, that won’t stop them from trying.

“I think we just have to keep making noise,” he said. “We’re going to make it hard for them.”

But still, residents who received notices have resigned themselves to their fate: They will, by law, have to move.

Jocelyne Cortez, who moved into the building last week from the Bay Area, was among those who was notified she would have to leave.

She came to the city for Cal State Long Beach’s nursing program and was looking forward to starting classes later this month. Now, she’ll have to find another place and move yet again, on top of what would already be a demanding schedule.

“It’s stressful,” she said. “You have the stress of moving in, and now the stress of having to find a new place. It’s pretty terrible.”

When Cortez stumbled upon 1761 Park Ave. in an online listing, she knew she found a good deal. Cortez was set to pay $500 per month for a shared room in the two-bedroom apartment.

“I thought I got so lucky,” she said Wednesday.

Her hunt for a new apartment, however, has shown her she’s not likely to be so fortunate the next time around.

“We saw some yesterday,” she said Wednesday. “You could tell there were roaches and bugs. You either choose to live in a place you can afford, where the conditions aren’t great, or you find something really expensive and are barely making rent.”

Not everyone in those buildings — which comprise 69 units total — has received a notice. But even those who haven’t gotten one say they’re simply waiting in fear for when it will happen.

But it may not.

Fred Sutton, a spokesman for the California Apartment Association, said Wednesday that most landlords don’t issue notices to vacate unless they absolutely have to.

“Housing providers are not in the eviction business,” he said. “They don’t want to vacate units.”

Property-owners don’t make money from empty apartments, after all.

And Rogers, for his part, hinted that some of the tenants are safe.

The owners, Rogers said, bought the complex with the intention of “performing extensive repairs and upgrades” to some of the units, which he noted hadn’t been upgraded in 40 years.

“The scope of work required inside the units,” Rogers said, “precludes the possibility of maintaining a habitable space.”

“Only a fraction” of the total units received the notices while the majority of tenants did not, he added. As of Tuesday, Aug. 6, Arenella said, none of his other neighbors has received a notice since the initial batch went out.

The owners, according to property records, are three limited-liability companies: Miramar – Park Apartments 1, Miramar – Park Apartments 2 and Miramar – Park Apartments 3.

Those LLCs registered as companies in Delaware in June, and as foreign agents doing business in California in July, according to records from those two states. They have no websites and no contact information listed. The person who signed the state registration forms is from a private law firm; she declined to disclose who actually owns the LLCs.

But, according to public documents, they are run in conjunction with Miramar Capital, a $5 billion real-estate investment fund. A search of state business records show multiple LLCs — many, but not all, with the name “Miramar” in them — also share the same leadership and Santa Monica address as Miramar Capital.

One such LLC, Miramar Logue 400, bears the address of a Mountain View property that Miramar plans to turn into a massive apartment complex. Miramar Capital also purchased properties in Redondo Beach, Torrance and Hollywood in recent years, according Los Angeles County property records; the LLCs that own those properties also share an address with Miramar Capital.

Miramar Capital managing partner Paul Fuhrman, along with other company executives, did not return multiple requests for comment.

Still, Rogers, of COAR Property Management, said the owners want to make things as smooth as possible for tenants.

“We understand that receiving a notice to vacate can be challenging for any tenant,” Rogers said, “and we are prepared to do what we can to accommodate our residents in an effort to make their transition as low-stress as possible.”

Rogers did not respond to follow-up questions about what those accommodations might entail.

That hasn’t soothed residents, though. As the slow trickle of renters came home after work Wednesday evening, a single refrain repeated itself in the roomy courtyard Yang, Arenella, Cortez and their neighbors share:

“Did you get the letter today?”

“No, not yet.”

But for those who haven’t received a notice, there is some solace:

If they do get one, the tenants said, they’ll know some money will be available to them to help ease the burden.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with more information on Saturday, Aug. 10.