The San Diego City Attorney’s Office filed a civil complaint this week accusing a builder of cutting corners, allowing people to move into a pricey new apartment complex near University of San Diego before the city had declared the building safe to live in.
According to the suit, The Carl, a 14-unit complex in Morena, did not have a working fire protection system when people — including university students — started moving in. The city also said its inspectors never signed off on the completed project, which means it had not been deemed safe to occupy.
The suit alleges violations of the city’s municipal codes and the state’s unfair competition law. The complaint, filed Monday in San Diego Superior Court by the city’s Nuisance Abatement Unit, also seeks civil penalties.
In a news release, City Attorney Mara Elliott said college students spent several months living in unsafe conditions.
“Students and parents, desperate to find safe and convenient housing before the school year started, were charged exorbitant rent to move into a building that lacked a working fire emergency system,” Elliott said in a statement.
Defendants include Crawford Design & Development, which manages Mogaford LLC, which owns property. No one associated with the businesses, including owner Michael Crawford, could be reached for comment. The suit indicates that when the city said he still needed to get the final sign-off known as a certificate of occupancy, he said he already had a temporary certificate.
Also named is a business the city says was subleasing apartments. Carl-Olivier Dumesle, who owns of HUGS, said Monday that he had not seen the court complaint, but said his company was only involved in marketing the units.
According to the complaint, the developer tore down a home on the corner of Mollie Way and Lauretta Street and put up the apartment building. The suit alleges that the property owner got a permit to demolish the home, but the final inspection of the demolition work was not completed by the city.
The builder later got a permit to put up the four-story complex, with 14 units and a garage.
City staffers inspected the property 83 times “to confirm whether the construction work could be approved, including inspecting building, mechanical/plumbing, and electrical work. Only seven of those inspections passed,” the suit alleges.
In June, the apartments were advertised for lease, and in August, students entered lease agreements to rent units, the suit alleges. The leasing rates are not on the apartment complex’s website, but the City Attorney’s Office said some units rent for up to $4,200 a month.
In September, San Diego Fire-Rescue inspectors found that people were living in the complex, and the fire protection system was not operable.
A working fire system has since been installed — and that means the city will not press to have people immediately vacate the building.
But the suit does call for the building owners to quickly get a Certificate of Occupancy, essentially a sign off indicating the building is safe. The city also seeks civil penalties of $2,500 a day for each violation.
