CHULA VISTA, Calif. — The old Jimmy’s Family Restaurant on Third Avenue and Oxford Street in Chula Vista has been vacant for years now, creating an eyesore for the community.
Viewers have been reaching out to CBS 8 wanting to know if there are any plans for a new tenant or what the owner plans to do with the building.
“It’s too bad we see it like that, you know, it’s going to waste,” said South Bay resident, Joe Araiza. “It’s falling apart.”
Araiza has lived in the area his entire life and he says it’s been vacant for at least eight years, if not longer.
“Long time and they haven’t done nothing to it, I haven’t seen any people around or anything,” said Araiza. “It was really good, breakfast was real good back then.”
According to the San Diego County Recorder’s Office, the building at 1198 Third Avenue, along with the entire Oxford Center strip mall, has been owned by Deutsch Chula Vista Oxford Center, LLC, since 1997.
CBS 8 met J.C., the person in charge of maintenance for the property, and he gave a tour of the inside.
“As you can see, it’s pretty downgraded, it needs a nice facelift. I mean, it has a lot of potential,” said J.C., who has been on the job for five years. He told CBS 8 the vacancy and unfortunate vandalism have taken a toll on the building.
“They broke in here before I started working here and they tore all the copper out, they took all the copper from here, as you can see,” he said.
J.C. has given tours to prospective tenants over the years and even in recent months, but no one has rented it yet.
“I showed it to a couple people who are already owners of restaurants and stuff like that, they liked the building, they liked the actual parking, the parking lot. I don’t know if they talked to the owner,” said J.C.
Michael Deutsch is listed as CEO for the LLC. CBS 8 tried to contact him, but could not reach him. We stopped by the office of Pacific Coast Commercial, the property management company for the strip mall. They couldn’t tell CBS 8 of any plans for a new tenant or what’s in store for the building.
“Do you hope they do something with it?” asked CBS 8’s Brian White. “Yeah hopefully because it’s right in the middle of everything and it’s a nice building,” said Araiza. “It’s too bad it’s vacant.”
At CBS 8, we are always Working for You and our community. This is a station promise that we will go the extra mile to solve a problem our audience can’t solve themselves. We want to hear your ideas on how we can cover and help our community. If you have a story idea, please email us at workingforyou@cbs8.com.
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