The California Theatre, an abandoned downtown landmark crumbling in plain view, is now the subject of a contentious dispute as city representatives press an insolvent property owner to immediately rectify safety breaches and demolish the “dangerous structure.”
The city’s code enforcement division this week referred its case against building owner Caydon Property Group to the City Attorney’s Nuisance Abatement Unit for prosecution, Elyse Lowe, who is the director of San Diego’s development services department, told the Union-Tribune. The city is also working to ensure that demolition occurs in a timely manner, she said.
This story is for subscribers
We offer subscribers exclusive access to our best journalism.
Thank you for your support.
The nuisance abatement unit has agreed to accept the case and will conduct an investigation, said Leslie Wolf Branscomb, a spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office. The investigation will determine whether the city pursues criminal charges or a civil complaint, she said.
“(The site) has been under a code enforcement as a nuisance property for (Caydon’s) lack of maintenance on it. What has changed in the last couple of months is the fact that the building has been breached,” Lowe said. “We need to take swift action in order to ensure the safety of the public and the people who are going in the building.”
Caydon Property Group’s acting Chief Operating Officer Emma Alexander did not respond to a request for comment.
Potentially complicating matters, the Melbourne, Australia, firm went belly up in late July and is liquidating its assets. In a statement shared with The Australian Financial Review, the company blamed the pandemic, rising construction costs, supply chain issues and interest rate hikes for its current state of affairs.
A symbol of blight and failed opportunity, the 95-year-old California Theatre building at 1122 Fourth Ave. — opposite City Hall — has been closed since 1990 with multiple ownership groups contemplating demolition or restoration over the years.
Thirty-two years later, the one-time vaudeville theater and attached eight-story office building remain shuttered, in a “dangerous” condition that “threatens (the) life, health, safety or property of its occupants or the public,” according to a July 27 building assessment memo penned by Miguel Sinclair, who is a senior structural engineer with the city.
Sinclair, who toured the outside of the property on June 29, observed severe dilapidation, building elements likely to fall into the public right-of-way and severe deterioration of the auditorium’s roof. The California Theatre is also a hotspot for homeless people and illegal trespassers, who have gained access to the building, his memo notes.
“Access by vagrants is not fully secured as there are numerous signs of breached door/window openings,” Sinclair wrote. “Two (San Diego Police Department) officers joined us at the site, but since the interior building areas have been deemed in previous structural condition reports as structurally unsafe, and also contain hazardous materials in high-ranking toxic scale levels, they will not enter the buildings.”
Wednesday, Lowe informed Alexander that legal action is pending to force compliance with the city’s public nuisance and land-use laws.
“I advised you (on July 27) the California Theatre … is in substantial disrepair, unsafe, and a hazard to the public. You were verbally warned that immediate action was required due to imminent safety concerns at the property and surrounding area,” Lowe wrote in the strongly worded letter first reported by Voice of San Diego. “You and (Caydon San Diego Property, LLC) have displayed an alarming lack of action since our discussion.”
The city had previously instructed the firm to submit plans for demolition, relocate fencing to protect the public from pieces falling off the building, hire security to prevent access and vandalism, and employ a four-person fire watch team because there are no active fire alarms. To date, none of the required actions have been completed.
Caydon has told the city repeatedly that it is unable to find anyone to assist the firm with entering the building, securing the building or demolishing the building, Lowe told the Union-Tribune. And the firm has no plans to further develop or repair the property due to costs, Lowe’s letter states.
As a result, the city is prepared to take care of the fencing, safety and security work at the owner’s expense, Lowe said. The city is also levying inspection fees for code enforcement visits, which happen twice a week, and is fining the property owner for the fire-watch violation on a daily basis.
The escalating problem comes despite promised redevelopment.
Caydon bought the 0.58-acre property at the corner of Fourth Avenue and C Street in late 2019 for $21.1 million. In April 2021, the developer received City Council approval to replace the decaying structure with a 41-story boutique hotel and condo project called Theatre House. More recently, however, Caydon has been actively marketing the site for the sale.
Now the property is set to be liquidated by a receiver appointed by the developer’s largest creditor, OCP Asia. The Australia-based receiver, McGrathNicol Restructuring, could not be reached for comment. McGrathNicol has not connected with the city’s development services department to discuss its liquidation process, Lowe said.
Whoever is in charge will need to come up with a plan for demolition — and soon, Lowe said.
“This is a huge priority for the mayor, and he’s made it one of my top priorities,” she said. “We’re all very concerned about the safety of the people entering the building.”
Caydon’s fully entitled redevelopment plan, which could be salvaged by a future buyer, allows for a boutique hotel with 190 rooms, 336 for-sale units, ground-floor retail space and underground parking spaces reserved for condo owners.
A buyer must also re-create three of the building’s facades, save some of the original ornamentation and produce a replica of the familiar “Caliente” wall design, as conditions of a legal agreement with preservation group Save Our Heritage Organisation. The group sued in 2017 to block a previously approved proposal.
