Judge gives City OK to demolish Krikorian theater structures
By Doug Spoon, Editor City officials finally got the news they have been waiting for today when a Riverside County Superior Court judge li...
City officials finally got the news they have been waiting for today when a Riverside County Superior Court judge lifted a stay that had blocked a demolition order regarding the Krikorian Theater property.
“The court lifted the stay and the City can proceed with the demolition on the property,” said Phil Southard, public information officer for the City of Menifee. “City staff is finalizing the [request for proposed bids] for the demolition work. Once the RFP process has concluded, a contract will be put forward to the City Council for review and approval.”
So the walls aren’t coming down just yet, but Krikorian’s efforts to further delay the demolition have ended.
Although the unfinished structure will be gone, Krikorian remains the owner of the property. As reported here last month, Krikorian is attempting to sell the property – including negotiations with a company that plans to build a similar entertainment complex. The court has set a Jan. 16, 2025 date for a hearing regarding status of the property. That gives Krikorian time to complete a sale or determine what other use he might have for the property.
The two sides remain in litigation involving code violations and fines assessed by the City.
“Parties are to meet and confer and submit a joint statement with the status of the property. Joint Statement is to be filed on or before 01/09/25,” stated the court’s minute order.
“It has become apparent that the movie industry and its economy has pivoted due to COVID and the aftermath,” said City Manager Armando Villa in a statement to Menifee 24/7. “It will be feasibly challenging to expect that the project will be built as initially approved. Consequently, the City feels that it has given Krikorian sufficient time to understand this and to develop alternate plans.
“Due to the lack of progress, communication and the realization by Krikorian that this is a very important issue to the community, the city is now prepared to initiate proceedings to demolish structures to eliminate a continuing unsafe and unhealthy condition. The city will be moving forward in the coming weeks to invite bids for demolition.”
In court filings on Thursday prior to today’s decision, Krikorian and the City of Menifee described their most recent efforts to address the situation. City building official Craig Carlson referred to the continuing deterioration of the theater walls, worsened by a summer storm on Sept. 8.
“As a result of these conditions, a section of approximately 6’x150’ of “Fox Blocks” (a Styrofoam block like CMU) collapsed from the property,” Carlson said in a court document opposing the petition of Showprop Menifee, LLC (Krikorian’s company) to stay the abatement order.
“This incident occurred as a result of ShowProp failing to ensure that the installation of the ‘Fox Blocks’ was properly completed prior to its abandonment of this project. In order to be secure, these blocks must have vertical reinforcement within the block and which should be filled with grout and with a Bond Beam (horizontal reinforcement) to complete the installation. ShowProp failed to properly reinforce these blocks.
“The “Fox Block” product exposure is rated for 3 months based on the manufacturer’s installation requirements, but this product has been exposed for over 3 years.”
In an opposing statement filed Thursday, Krikorian attorney Andrea Contreras disputed Carlson’s statement, saying, “Petitioner hereby objects to and respectfully requests the Court disregard the entirety of Respondent City of Menifee’s supplemental filing filed on September 19, 2024. The illegitimate sur-reply is filed under the guise of a ‘supplement,’ but contains misrepresentations about Petitioner’s actions and fails to give Petitioner proper time to respond in blatant disregard of Petitioner’s due process rights.
“Furthermore, the filing suggests that Petitioner has failed to take any action in response to the issues raised last week after the storm, which simply is not true.”
In the document, Contreras testified that Showprop hired a company to remove damaged items after the storm and had requested an engineer’s structural update. That report wasn’t submitted to the court until Thursday.
The Kirkorian theater project was first officially announced in May 2014. Originally, Krikorian purchased property and began developing plans solely for an entertainment complex including 12 theater screens, a bowling alley, sports bar and family entertainment center. Within the next two years, he purchased additional property in Menifee Town Center to build retail buildings fronting Newport Road.
Krikorian broke ground for the theater in early 2019 but halted construction in April of 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Krikorian said he lost funding to resume construction. Additionally, he is involved in a lawsuit with contractors who maintain they were not paid for materials delivered to the site.
On Jan. 6, 2024, a fire destroyed much of the wood structures erected as part of the retail businesses Krikorian planned for the corner of Newport Road and Town Center Drive. An arson investigation was conducted but no arrests were made.
The City should line up sledge hammers to allow the citizens of Menifee to have a swing on the eye sore that has been this disgrace for many years.
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