Spray painted in all caps, the graffitied “Rage” that recently covered a large swath of the Mira Mesa Epicentre building inadvertently spoke to the sentiment bubbling up among community members who have witnessed the building deteriorate over the past eight years.
The massive tag is gone now but something just as indecorous seems likely to replace it. That’s because the city-owned facility fronting Mira Mesa Boulevard and connected to the neighborhood’s central park has essentially been abandoned, its unsupervised state an environment ripe for illicit activity.
A brighter future awaits the long-closed facility. The county is currently negotiating a lease with the city that will see it take over the Epicentre and revive the site as a teen center. The contract is just months away from being finalized, city officials say.
But those with the closest vantage point believe the city is being derelict in its duty to care for the property during what has felt like a protracted period of nothingness.
“The building is like an orphan child. Nobody wants to claim it, and nobody even wants to do a welfare check on the building,” said Mitz Lee, whose nonprofit operates the senior center that shares a parking lot with the Epicentre. “It is a complete disrespect to the community.”
Lee also runs the Mira Mesa Concerned Citizens group, which has been openly critical of the city’s treatment of the Epicentre. The group is planning to host a press conference in the parking lot outside the building on March 21 at 10:30 a.m. to draw more attention to the problem. They say the site has become an unchecked hot spot for vandals, gang members, drug users and homeless people.
The Epicentre building and surrounding grounds, until just days ago, were littered with trash and broken glass, overrun by knee-high weeds, and tagged with freshly painted graffiti.
(Howard Lipin/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Opened in 1977 as Mira Mesa’s first library, the 8,000 square-foot building at 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd. was refashioned into the youth-focused Epicentre in 1998, when nonprofit Harmonium assumed operation of the facility. The organization, facing financial struggles, backed out of its lease with the city in 2016.
The building has remained closed to the community ever since. Senior citizen volunteers with the San Diego Police Department were working out of a small, sectioned-off portion of the building until recently. But they’ve since moved out and conditions have worsened.
The Epicentre building and surrounding property was, until Thursday, littered with trash and broken glass, overrun by knee-high weeds, and tagged with freshly painted graffiti. A shattered window appeared to temporarily allow access to the inside of the building before being boarded up earlier in the week.
Homeless people come and go, shuffling between the exterior of the Epicentre property, an area behind the senior center and the adjacent community park. One person was seen sleeping Wednesday morning on the sidewalk in the former Butterfly Garden outside the Epicentre.
It’s also not uncommon to come across needles and feces, usually in the semi-secluded space west of the Epicentre building and adjacent to the neighboring strip mall, said Sandy Smith, who works with Lee at the senior center and is a member of the Mira Mesa Concerned Citizens group.
The most recent mess was cleaned up this week after people complained to the city and posted about the new graffiti on social media. The clean-up took place after the Union-Tribune photographed the building’s exterior condition.
A homeless person sleeps in the former Butterfly Garden at the Epicentre, a shuttered teen center and concert venue on Mira Mesa Boulevard, as pictured on Wednesday March 13, 2024.
(Howard Lipin/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“The Epicentre site has been vacant for far too many years. Its temporary, current state is reflective of what plagues many vacant buildings throughout our city and is one of the reasons I’ve been pushing for the exciting revitalization plan the city and county are partnering on,” said San Diego City Councilmember Kent Lee, who represents the community.
“When I was made aware of community concerns by the Mira Mesa Town Council, my office quickly raised them to the mayor’s office and to the appropriate city departments, which have already been on-site and will be working to properly secure the facility. This includes cleaning up trash and graffiti, fixing broken windows and confirming that there is no presence of trespassers,” he said.
Some community members believe the continued vandalism is the product of intentional neglect, with the city reluctant to spend money on basic maintenance or routine upkeep. Property agents with the city’s economic development department periodically check up on the site, but the city does not pay for any building services, a city spokesperson said.
“The city doesn’t have money to do anything for this building. They never did,” Lee, the senior center leader, said. “The county, if they could do something for this building, it would be good. But I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, the public health issue cannot be deferred.”
An aerial view of the Epicentre, located along Mira Mesa Boulevard, which shares a parking lot with the Mira Mesa Senior Center (not pictured) and is connected to Mira Mesa Community Park.
(Howard Lipin/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Seniors and high-school kids routinely walk behind the boarded-up property to go between the park and the strip mall, she said. Current conditions present a safety hazard, she said, because of the potential for a fire from drug use in or outside the building.
At the same time, the county plan continues to move forward. The government agency allocated $8 million in 2021 and 2022 for public engagement, design, environmental review and construction costs associated with its Epicentre project. Last year, the county showed off conceptual plans to community groups. The agency’s parks and recreation department is overseeing the project, and is expected to operate the facility with programs and activities geared for kids and teens, ages 10 to 18.
“Our county is stepping up with $8 million to support the renovations to this city-owned facility, plus we will deliver programs to support youth after school,” County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, whose district includes Mira Mesa, said in a statement. “We are entering into a historic partnership between the city and county of San Diego to revive this Mira Mesa community gathering space. It’s been great working with City Councilmember Kent Lee to move this project forward.”
A lease agreement is expected to go before San Diego City Council for approval in the next two to three months, the city spokesperson said. The contract also requires approval from the County Board of Supervisors.
