San Jose political leaders launch push to tackle blighted buildings
SAN JOSE — A San Jose councilmember has embarked on a quest to tackle what appears to be a worsening affliction of blight and decaying buildings in the Bay Area’s largest city.
Councilmember Omar Torres has crafted a memo that, if approved by a key San Jose panel, would clear the way for a City Council study session to delve into how blight afflicts numerous properties around the city.
“The City Council will learn what happened over the last several years that led to historically abandoned and neglected buildings staying in their current state and what direction (city staff) received from various departments,” stated the memo.
An abandoned historic church and a fire-scorched old hotel in downtown San Jose are just a few of the problem spots, according to an array of political and business leaders in the city.
“When I came into office, I received numerous complaints from residents regarding historically neglected and blighted buildings,” Torres said.
The complaints were widespread enough that they alarmed the councilmember, who began to seek ways to combat the blight.
Torres enlisted the support of Mayor Matt Mahan, along with councilmembers Pam Foley and Sergio Jimenez, in efforts to tackle the problem.
The next official step in the process is to gain the approval of a key San Jose city panel for a full-fledged information-gathering effort.
“I submitted a memorandum to the Rules Committee, along with Mayor Mahan, Councilmember Foley, and Councilmember Jimenez, asking for a study session to understand the process for getting these buildings into compliance and identify where the breakdowns occur,” Torres said.
While blighted buildings – and even large sections of blocks – can be found in multiple sections of San Jose, two of the most notorious examples of neglect haunt the city’s downtown, which is battling to rebound from the economic maladies arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
In January 2021, a fire scorched and gutted the old Lawrence Hotel at 71-81 East San Fernando St.
More than three years after the disastrous fire, no work has occurred to repair the damage or preserve the remnants of the hotel, which was constructed well over a century ago in 1893.
The First Church of Christ Scientist building at 43 East St. James St. is seen by neighbors as an eyesore as it sits neglected next to a weed-choked field.
An affiliate of China-based Z&L Properties owns the site and has proposed a project to salvage and restore the historic church as part of a development of two housing towers. But the company has failed to renovate or restore the church and has yet to break ground on the towers.
Mahan, who has joined forces with Torres in the fight against blight, referenced the blight problems in his budget message.
“I want to see us do a complete review and overhaul of the code enforcement process,” Mahan said. “The fact that we have over 4,000 code enforcement cases in the backlog is unacceptable.”
The assessment of code enforcement efforts should be wide ranging, according to Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy.
“This is the right time to have a broader discussion on blight,” Staedler said. “Code enforcement needs to be independent and have the tools needed for this important work.”
Jim Salata, a construction executive and San Jose commercial property owner, worked with subcontractor BrandSafway to attempt to address some of the problems at the historic church.
Last summer, the Salata-led crew patched up the rooftop dome, removed a tattered tarp and cleaned up small bits of plastic that would have become a pollution threat during the rainy season.
Since then, the city has not taken any major steps to ensure the protection and renovation of the old church, or to force the Z&L Properties affiliate to keep the site up to code.
“The city is not doing its job,” Salata said. “Why doesn’t the city levy fines? They say there’s not enough staff. But there are too many excuses about why they can’t do the job.”
Years after the fire at the Lawrence Hotel, the structure, which survived the monster earthquakes of 1906 and 1989, is fenced off with its second floor gutted and open to the sky.
“The Lawrence Hotel is a burned-out hulk for more than three years now,” Salata said.
San Mateo-based Eagle Hills Property I LLC, whose principal officer is Bay Area real estate executive Kevin Louie, owns the Lawrence Hotel site.
Salata’s big concern is that the problems extend well beyond downtown San Jose and these two buildings.
At 552 South Bascom Ave. near Interstate 280, the historic Burbank Cinema movie theater lingers in years-long disuse, with no final decision on its fate. The “C” in the Cinema on the sign hangs loose and swings in the wind. Below the sign, a camp bed and an office chair flank the shuttered entrance. Graffiti mars the walls of the well-known building.
Across the street, at 534 South Bascom, an entire strip mall has been emptied out, boarded up and fenced off. In 2014, a Mexican market and taqueria, toys and collectibles outlet, comic book store, dry cleaners, and a kids and baby store operated at the retail center. Parking was tough to find.
But by 2015, a chain link fence blocked access to the empty commercial complex, a review of Google Street View’s history shows.
“There are pockets of blight everywhere in San Jose,” Salata said. “Why is that allowed to happen?”
City leaders and municipal staffers must step up to make progress in the battle against blight, in the view of Torres.
“I want to thank Jim Salata for taking the initiative to help First Church of Christ Scientist, formerly known as ‘the trash bag church’,” Torres said. “However, it should not fall to individuals to improve our city. Our city needs to be proactive and hold property owners responsible.”
View more on Silicon Valley