Planned Low-Income Apartments Auctioned

A four-unit apartment house that stirred controversy over a developer’s plan to use city funds to improve it and rent it to low-income tenants reportedly was sold for $800,000 Friday at a probate court auction in Pasadena.

The identity of the bidder was not available, but a neighbor who attended the auction said it was not the Laguna Beach developer who had proposed the improvements and subsidy deal to the city three months ago. The developer had proposed using $400,000 of city redevelopment funds earmarked for affordable housing.

Residents of the neighborhood on Ocean Avenue and a City Council candidate had questioned whether the city should be spending money for rent subsidies in the upscale beach area.