Local Businesses Deal With Property Damage From Weather

A couple of Woodland Hills businesses have temporarily relocated their offices due to building water damage that resulted from the recent heavy rains. The damage affects the southeast corner of the commercial building at 20935 Warner Center Lane, located in a business park just off De Soto Avenue and north of Burbank Boulevard. On the side of the building where Arrow Electronics is located, the rain caused the roof to collapse and the wall to be pushed out, allowing water to flood in. That affected other tenants in the building, which include Bernards Office Furniture. “The water from their broken roof came into our space and saturated everything,” said Bernards Office Furniture president Frank Bernard. The damage occurred on March 20. Signs posted on the building by Los Angeles’ Department of Building and Safety said the building was inspected under emergency conditions on March 21. Bernard, whose business has temporarily moved to vacant space directly across the street, said the water ruined some of his inventory and his computers. He expects to have to operate from the alternate location for another three to four weeks while repairs are being made. Meanwhile, he has to cope with the effects of the ordeal. “Business has been affected because the phone was hardly ringing,” Bernard said. “We didn’t have phones for a week.” The company’s new location is at 29050 Warner Center Lane, Suite C. Arrow Electronics has moved its Woodland Hills operations to its Los Angeles office while some employees are working remotely, said John Hourigan, spokesman for the company. Arrow officials was notified of the damage over the weekend that the incident occurred and immediately started working to have calls rerouted to other service locations. Calls were rerouted to the Los Angeles site once the Woodland Hills operations made the full transition by noon on March 22. “We’re grateful that if it happened, it happened when people were not in the building,” Hourigan said. “The first priority was for the safety of the employees.” The level of damage at Arrow is still being determined. The company is also evaluating the potential need for a more long-term alternative site plan. Representatives from the Infinity insurance office, which is also housed in the damaged building, could not be reached by phone and no information about an alternate location was posted on its door.