SAN JOSE —
A fire-scarred empty lot of blight in downtown San Jose could be placed into receivership if city officials convince a Santa Clara County judge to rule in the city’s favor in a legal battle over the site.
The properties in question are unused parcels at the corner of North Fourth Street and East St. John Street, according to public documents on file with San Jose city officials and the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Two fires, a fatal drive-by shooting, homeless encampments, piles of burnt materials, stacks of debris and a dangerous dog are among the hazards at the site. The addresses are 100, 120, 146 and 152 North Fourth and 117 North Fifth Street, the court and city records show.
The latest legal battle comes as San Jose is under fire for its years-long failure to address blight woes in multiple downtown sites and elsewhere.
“If property owners know that the city lacks the will to enforce the rules, they will continue their bad behavior,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy.
The North Fourth Street fires, which broke out in March 2024 and August 2024, have created serious hazards for people living next door and near the fire-torched sites, according to Jay Huang, the operating manager of Sunding Brothers LLC, which owns a property next to the blighted vacant lots.
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“The lack of maintenance and security at the 146 and 152 North Fourth properties has significantly deteriorated the safety of the public in the surrounding area,” Huang stated in a declaration on file with Santa Clara County Superior Court. “Unhoused persons have created unsafe encampments in and around the 146 and 152 properties because they remain unsecured and vacant. This ongoing nuisance poses a direct threat to my tenants daily.”
The March fire leveled two abandoned Victorian-era homes on the blighted lot. The August fire ignited the stacks of debris and wood left behind from the earlier blaze.
The Aug. 20 blaze forced some people to flee as the flames menaced their homes, witnesses told this news organization. One teenage girl suffered smoke inhalation and had to be treated at a hospital, court records show.
An affiliate controlled by Saratoga resident Brent Lee owns the blighted lots. Several years ago, Lee proposed the development of a student housing tower on the site. Construction never began.
City officials have launched a so-far ineffective quest to pressure Lee to deal with the removal and cleanup of the site and securely fencing off the property.
Now, after at least five months of fines and attempts to prod Lee into action, San Jose officials have fashioned a new tactic for the North Fourth Street parcels.
The city has asked a Santa Clara County judge to approve a receiver to take control of the property, clean up the site and secure the parcels.
Some observers wonder what steps are being taken by the San Jose Code Enforcement unit.
“Code Enforcement has an active case on this property,” Rachel Roberts, a deputy director in the city’s code enforcement division, said in an email response to this news organization. “We have issued a compliance order for ongoing violations and have performed inspections and abatements to ensure the site fencing remains secure and the overgrown vegetation removed.”
Despite these assurances, as recently as Monday, debris remained piled up on the burned-out property. This month, a removal crew was on site discussing a strategy for removing the debris. No date has yet been set for that work to be conducted, crew members stated.
City officials conceded in the court filing that the property owner doesn’t appear to be complying with a removal order. This assessment was included in an Aug. 27 court declaration by San Jose Deputy City Attorney Vance Chang. The filing was part of a lawsuit the city has filed against Lee and the entity he controls, which operates under the name RPRO152N3 LLC.
“Based on recent communication with the defendants, Code Enforcement believes that the defendants (Lee and RPRO152N3) plan to either remove the debris by a contractor not certified to handle such environmental waste, or continue their past practice by not taking any action on the properties,” the City Attorney’s Office stated in the Aug. 27 filing.
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San Jose officials asked the Santa Clara County court to issue an order to abate the public nuisance as well as a preliminary injunction against the property owner, and appoint a receiver over the properties “to prevent ongoing and potentially dangerous future harm to the community, court files show.
“We are still not seeing nearly enough accountability for absentee property owners burdening the rest of the community with their blighted and vacant properties,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. “It’s time to shake up the code enforcement function at City Hall and ensure we are fully leveraging the powers of our City Attorney’s office.”
In December, the City Council scheduled a council session to study the problems with blight.
“I am eagerly awaiting the City Manager’s report and her recommendations for overhauling how we conduct code enforcement, especially in terms of streamlining enforcement accountability for bad actors,” Mahan said.
Meanwhile, properties such as an abandoned historic church at 43 East St. James Street and a burned-out husk of a historic hotel at 79 East San Fernando Street remain forlorn and neglected.
People living near the charred rubble piles at 100 North Fourth Street expressed worries about living so close to the blighted lot.
“It’s a hazard,” said Ted Payne, a San Jose resident who lives two doors away from the blighted parcels. “It makes me feel unsafe to live here.”
The problem with rundown sites in San Jose is becoming steadily more severe, according to Staedler, who is a harsh critic of the city’s attempts to tackle blight.
“It has become dire and something needs to happen in the near term,” Staedler said. “The residents of San Jose deserve better.”
