FULLERTON : City Moves to Take ‘Ghost’ Strip of Land

The City Council moved ahead on plans to acquire a small strip of property near the Fox Fullerton Theatre through eminent domain--a complicated, drawn-out process that allows government to obtain land for the public good, but often gets owners up in arms.

But this time, the owners are nowhere to be found.

City officials have had no luck in tracking the strip’s title beyond 1919. That was the year that James and Eugenia Martin sold a much larger, adjacent parcel of land, but for some unknown reason the couple kept the 12 1/2-foot-wide, 90-foot-long “ghost” strip, which is just southeast of Ellis Place and Harbor Boulevard.

“We have no way of knowing the intentions of the Martins, why they would retain the strip,” said Jerry Young, an associate real property agent for Fullerton. “ . . . I’m assuming--and this is a major assumption--that they died and the kids had no knowledge that they retained the 12 1/2 feet.”

Over the years, the larger adjacent parcel--about six times the size of the strip--has been sold again and again. Owners just assumed that the strip was part of the deal.

“Nobody was ever too picky about it,” Young said.

In fact, the city recently tore down a concrete storage shed on the strip that had been used by Angelo’s & Vinci’s restaurant.

Steven Peck, owner of the restaurant, sold several larger parcels next to the strip to the city for about $1.3 million, Young said. During the transaction, city officials and a consultant attorney searched the history of ownership of the area and found the “ghost” strip.

Peck’s property, along with the strip, will be the site of a parking structure that will eventually serve a renovated Fox Theatre and a new Angelo’s & Vinci’s restaurant, which is under construction.

Under terms of the purchase agreement, the city will be able to deduct $52,000 from the price of Peck’s property to pay the costs--even if unsuccessful--of finding the owners or their heirs.

As of now, no one has come forward.