Developer Gets 5-Year Ban for Razing Buildings Illegally

A top Los Angeles building official has barred developer Richard Meruelo from construction on vacant land near Union Station for five years as punishment for tearing down aging industrial structures without demolition permits.

Raymond Chan, executive officer of the city’s Department of Building and Safety, imposed the penalty after agreeing with a hearing officer’s finding that the four structures were demolished last year without the required permits.

In a letter to Meruelo released Friday, Chan said the department will not issue any permits for new development on the property at 1000 E. Alhambra Ave. and 1060 N. Vignes St. for five years.

Meruelo, the largest landowner in downtown Los Angeles, said in an interview earlier this week that the deteriorating buildings were a nuisance. “It was a haven for all kinds of illegal activity -- drug dealing, prostitution, illegal raves,” he said.

He acknowledged that he had no demolition permit. But his attorney said he will argue in appealing the action that the penalty applies only to historic or culturally significant buildings.

“We didn’t cause the problem,” Meruelo said. “We bought it, and we took care of it quickly. In hindsight, we made a mistake. We should have gotten a [demolition] permit.”

Meruelo said the city had ordered him and the previous owner to abate the nuisance on the property.

But Chan said city abatement orders routinely state that permits must be obtained to repair or demolish a structure.

Meruelo’s attorney, Timothy L. Neufeld, called the department’s decision “very disappointing. The intent of the ordinance clearly is to protect historic structures, not buildings the city wants demolished. We will most certainly appeal this arbitrary decision driven by media accounts rather than sound public policy.”

L.A. Weekly reported in April that Meruelo demolished the buildings without the required permits and that the department took no action against him.

Meruelo sparked controversy during last year’s mayor’s race when he spent more money than any other individual -- $197,300 -- to help elect Antonio Villaraigosa. Most of the money went to an independent campaign that urged Republican voters to elect the Democrat to the city’s top office.

The penalty that bans any development on a property for five years is rarely imposed. “We don’t invoke it that often,” department spokesman Robert Steinbach said.