SAN JOSE — Complaints over a blighted and fire-scorched San Jose abandoned property began six years ago — yet after three blazes, a shooting, a dog attack and piles of garbage, a solution remains elusive.
City officials may seize control of several parcels that have become a full-blown eyesore at North Fourth Street and East St. John Street in downtown San Jose due to steadily worsening blight woes.
Charred piles of lumber, trash and debris litter the parcels, which are physically connected.
The abandoned sites remain neglected and blight has worsened — even after six years of neighborhood concern and city government awareness of the problems.
San Jose city officials claim that South Bay business executive Brent Lee and the property-owning affiliate he controls have neglected the properties and allowed them to decay into blight.
The city has filed a lawsuit against the owner of the properties in a push to enable a court-appointed receiver to clean up and secure the properties, and then potentially sell the sites.
A court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5 that could determine who gains control of several fire-scorched properties at 100, 120, 146 and 152 North Fourth Street, and 117 North Fifth Street. For decades, the 146 and 152 North Fourth buildings were Victorian-era homes until they burned down this year.
Yet ahead of that hearing, court papers have emerged that show problems and concerns spawned by the properties began to surface more than a half-decade ago.
Neighbors began to raise warning flags in early 2018 about the properties, according to an amended lawsuit on file with the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
“In February 2018, the city’s Code Enforcement Division began investigating the 146 North Fourth property for blight as well as health and safety violations,” court papers state. “At the time of the initial inspection, the 146 North Fourth site was vacant with piles of solid waste and debris on the driveway and around the property.”
In 2021 and 2022, city inspectors found that individuals were using the two Victorian homes at 146 and 152 North Fouth as temporary shelters on multiple occasions. The city boarded up the residences, hoping to prevent entry.
The Brent Lee-controlled affiliate had collected the parcels to accommodate a proposed 23-story housing tower with 298 units and ground-floor retail. The city has approved that project. Construction never began.
It now turns out that three fires have broken out at the abandoned site — not just the two blazes that have been well publicized.
“On about November 29, 2023, a fire at the 152 North Fourth house damaged the right half of the building,” court papers state. “The structure of the building remained intact but was charred and uninhabitable. Solid waste and debris were observed around the property and the perimeter fence remained unsecured.”
Just a few months later, in March 2024, a fire consumed and leveled both houses.
“Although the cause of the Fire is unknown at this time, the city is informed and believes that the source of the fire was the result of unlawful burning of wood or other cooking materials by unauthorized occupants in the 146 North Fourth property,” court papers state.
Then in August 2024, another fire broke out that further burned the still-present wreckage of the one-time Victorians.
Both of the fires this year forced people to evacuate the vicinity. The second fire during the summer also sent the daughter of a tenant living in an adjacent apartment building to the hospital for smoke inhalation. The August blaze badly damaged the adjacent building and forced one of the tenants to seek housing elsewhere.
The court papers show that city officials focused primarily on attempting to levy fines and collect fines and invoices for repeated violations related to the properties.
Only until very recently did San Jose officials make an effort to wrest control and ownership of the sites from the Lee-controlled affiliate, the court papers show.
The Nov. 5 hearing could begin a concerted process to take away the properties from Lee.
On Oct. 7, this news organization contacted Lee to obtain his views and perspective regarding the empty lot.
“I can’t say anything beyond the court record,” Lee said. “I have an attorney.”
