The City Attorney's Office is seeking to declare the dilapidated California Theatre building in downtown San Diego a public nuisance and levy fines against its owners for alleged violations of the municipal code, it was announced Thursday.
The 96-year-old blighted theater on C Street has been shuttered for more than three decades, and according to the City Attorney's Office, has "fallen even further into disrepair" in the years since its 2019 purchase by Australia-based Caydon Property Group.
Representatives for the owners could not be reached for immediate comment.
In recent years, the abandoned building has been breached by trespassers, some of whom have set fires inside the structure. According to the City Attorney's Office, police have been called to the building 68 times since 2019 for various crimes and the building itself is a hazard. City staff declared last year was too dangerous for people to enter.
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A civil enforcement action filed by the City Attorney's Office seeks a court order allowing the city to abate the property and would seek civil penalties of $2,500 a day per violation of the San Diego Municipal Code.
"This blighted theater has been an eyesore for years, as well as a potential death trap to those who are entering it unlawfully," San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott said in a statement. "The owner's failure to take action harms neighboring businesses, drains police resources and poses an ongoing danger."
In an interview with NBC 7 Thursday morning, Elliott said the state of the building impacts the surrounding area, people, and businesses.
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“We’re concerned that it’s a public health and safety issue for our community,” Elliott said. “For people who are walking by, for businesses who are operating in the city.”
Businesses like Joseph Abdel Bahriz’s. He’s had his restaurant, A Brooklyn Pizzeria, for 24 years. He says that just as the state of the California Theatre is deteriorating, so have customers.
”It’s getting worse and worse,” Bahriz said.
He just hopes the City Attorney’s move means things will change.
“Renovate it, make it a historical building, do something about it, just to have something,” Bahriz said.
Elliott said her team has been in contact with Caydon Property Groups’ representatives in San Diego, but the company is based in Australia.
”Our lawsuit is intended to force them to fix this and if they do not fix then the city has to take further action,” Elliott said.
