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Crews demolish Pacifica apartment building that threatened to collapse into ocean

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Wrecking crews began tearing down a vacant apartment building perched on a crumbling seaside cliff in Pacifica on Monday — the culmination of a legal process that began more than a year ago.

The building at 310 Esplanade Ave. was yellow-tagged and deemed uninhabitable in January 2016 after powerful surf from El-Nino fueled storms eroded the coastline and bluffs. Portions of the eroding cliff had collapsed into the ocean after rains hammered the Bay Area city.

In December, a city building official and geotechnical consultant determined the building posed a threat to public health and recommended it be demolished “as soon as possible,” officials said.

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“Storm-driven waves have accelerated erosion of the adjacent bluffs presenting a clear danger to residents, and demolishing this structure is the only way to prevent it from crumbling to the beach below,” City Manager Lorie Tinfow said in a statement.

The building was constructed in the 1960s. Cleanup of the building site should be finished by the end of the week, city officials said.

In March, a neighboring 20-unit apartment building, which had also been determined to be dangerous for residents, was demolished. The building had been closed since 2010 when city officials declared it hazardous.

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The two buildings are owned by Millard Tong, who city officials say has been aware of the bluff’s condition and filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

A third building on the same stretch of coast was also demolished by a private owner last winter.

In total, Pacifica spent about $3.65 million last year repairing a dozen locations that were damaged by winter storms, including the seaside cliffs. About $2 million of that is expected to be covered by the city’s insurance and about $1 million could come from a state disaster fund, city officials said.

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The city has also applied for assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reinforce the cliffs below the Esplanade address, update its watershed pipelines and repair and replace a seawall and promenade. All three requests have moved past the first stage of the approval process, officials announced last week.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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