The city will become more aggressive in its efforts to get Rite Aid to do something with the vacant, deteriorating site it has leased for the last six years at the corner of Manhattan Beach and Sepulveda boulevards, the city council decided Tuesday night.
The city council unanimously directed Community Development Director Marisa Lundstedt to take the first step in the city’s nuisance abatement process and send Rite Aid and the property owners a letter with a deadline to fix the problem.
“It’s a disgrace to the community,” said Mayor Wayne Powell. “They need to do something right now to abate — I’ll call it a nuisance. If they’re not going to develop it, they should sell the property — the property owners should sell it so something can be developed for the community.”
The site has been empty since one of the land owners, Smail Nayebdadash of Palos Verdes, demolished the gas station that previously sat there, and the other owner, Stuart Sackley, vacated his tenants in the three-story building that sits at the property’s southern border, as required by the terms of the 50-year lease they signed with Rite Aid. The city approved the company’s proposal for a 13,000 square foot store in 2008, but it was never built. The building permits have since expired.
Until now, the city has met with representatives from the company from time to time, getting updates on the company’s plans.
Powell has undertaken a campaign to rid the city of this “blight,” as he has called it.
Earlier in his term, he successfully pushed for an update to the city’s nuisance ordinance to include “attractive nuisances,” or eyesores.
He, along with the city council, also asked staff to reach out to Rite Aid again, letting them know of the city’s intentions. City Manager Mark Danaj and Lundstedt met with the senior real estate director for the Western division of Rite Aid, who told them the company would bring up the item at its executive real estate committee in June.
Powell was skeptical of Rite Aid’s reaction. He mentioned the recent closing of one of the company’s stores in Torrance.
“Based on the fact that every time they’ve been contacted” they haven’t done anything, he said, “Why does staff feel so confident now is so different? Einstein says the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Lundstedt said she was encouraged that the company had agreed to take the issue to its executive real estate committee.
“It’s the first time in five years that they’ve been taking the project to the committee to decide whether to develop it or not,” added Danaj.
Powell’s council colleagues supported his direction.
“I respect the decision by the corporation” to not develop the site, said Councilmember David Lesser. “But to see the site left as it is, it’s a problem for us as a community. If they choose not to develop, the council will explore all remedies, including legal remedies.”
City staff recently inspected the site and found various problems.
“A number of concerns were identified by staff including no electrical or water (fire sprinkler) service to the building, a broken window and dry rot, water damage and termite damage on a portion of the structure that overhangs the property line over the Sepulveda Boulevard sidewalk,” staff wrote in a report. “The building has a number of non-conformities that could potentially be safety issues including windows on the portions of the building with zero setback from the property line, weak structural elements on the first floor that are not designed to support the two floors above in the event of an earthquake, and portions of the building overhanging the public sidewalk.”
Because of the terms of the lease, Rite Aid is simply renting the ground from the property owners, and is responsible for any buildings, according to owner Sackley.
Powell also projected photos from the site which showed an open fence “where anybody can get into the site,” he said; graffiti; boarded up windows on the office building; and a full shopping cart that he said appeared to belong to a homeless person.
“To me, I consider it a blight,” he said after showing the photos. “It’s certainly not something you’d expect in the city of Manhattan Beach.” ER
