SAN DIEGO — Piles of trash and dilapidated equipment are all that's left of an abandoned car wash at 3419 University Avenue.
It has become a magnet for crime and graffiti during its vacancy over the past 6 months, and local businesses are paying the price. CBS 8 is Working for You to find out who is responsible for cleaning it up.
“Honestly, it looks like a dump," said Debbie Naranjo, owner of a dog grooming business. "It looks really dirty, it smells like urine.”
A local business owner told CBS 8 that transients have made living quarters inside the building.
“It’s been turned into a homeless encampment for the most part, you know, they’re trespassing on there and nobody really does anything about it,” said a local tattoo shop owner.
CBS 8 saw two guys with bikes leaving the property through a hole in the fence Thursday. According to Naranjo, the vacant car wash has been bad for the neighborhood.
“You get a lot more people walking by, yelling, and you know it just gives a bad reputation for our business, and we just have a bunch of people sometimes that are doing stuff they shouldn’t, you know, people consuming drugs right around the corner,” Naranjo explained.
Complaints have been filed with the City of San Diego, so CBS 8 reached out to Code Enforcement. They told us a case has been opened and assigned to a code enforcement officer, and the property should be inspected within the next five days.
Records obtained by CBS 8 show the property’s owner, Double D & Double J, LLC., entered into a lease agreement with Soapy Joe’s on February 29, 2024.
CBS 8 reached out to the car wash company about their plans for the new location. Isaac G. Lee, Chief Operating Officer for Soapy Joe’s, said in a statement,
“We are excited to bring value to the community through jobs and engagement at this new location. We’re in the final stages of permitting and anticipate breaking ground by the end of this year.”
Soapy Joe’s operates 24 locations across the County with several more coming soon to Carlsbad, Santee, and Poway.
Meanwhile, business owners on University Avenue near I-805 hope the new car wash moving in will help transform the area.
“I really hope they keep it clean," said Naranjo. "I’ve been to all their locations and they’ve always had a good place, it’s always been clean so I really hope they bring that over here too.”
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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