SOUTH GATE : Bidding War Erupts Over Ex-Fire Station

A bidding war has begun for ownership of Fire Station 52, a property that has stood vacant and neglected for nearly a decade.

St. Francis Medical Center bid $75,000 for the property after Pasadena-based Southland Leasing and Development Corp. recently made the city an undisclosed offer to buy the abandoned building and renovate it as affordable housing for seniors. Public Works Director James Biery said the raw property is worth about $200,000.

The medical center had earlier proposed that the city turn over the fire station property as a gift for use as a community health clinic. The Commission for South Gate Youth has also requested that the property be donated to them, in hopes of creating a youth recreation center.

“(City officials) made it clear that we weren’t going to go anywhere if we asked for the property as a gift,” said St. Francis Vice President Ron Dahlgren. “We were basically told we were not going to be in the running.”

Dahlgren said the center would offer free screenings for cholesterol and tuberculosis, immunizations for children and other services as part of its proposal to obtain the site.

Southland Leasing initially was the only applicant willing to pay for the property, making its proposal particularly attractive to the city, an official said. Details of the proposal have not been worked out.

The city received seven proposals for development of the site, but only three parties completed the final application process, according to a staff report.

The county closed the fire house in 1985 and the property was turned over to the city last December. In recent years, the building has been occupied by transients, and neighbors have complained that it has become an eyesore, officials said.

The site will require environmental cleanup because an underground fuel tank once used to fill the station’s fire trucks has leaked, contaminating surrounding soil.