Dilapidated St. Luke’s Hospital Deemed Public Nuisance

The vacated St. Luke Hospital in Northeast Pasadena has been deemed a public nuisance by residents and City officials after a spike in criminal activity at the dilapidated building.

Surrounded by overgrown vegetation and rife with broken windows and doors, the once-proud building is now tagged with graffiti and is a target of constant vandalism.

“Pasadena prides itself on our historical architecture and beautiful buildings,” said Lisa Derderian, City Public Information Officer. “It’s sad to see this once gem of a renowned hospital become completely dilapidated with what could have been simple fixes to protect this eleven-acre parcel.”

Derderian added that the City is working to expedite legal recourse and compliance as soon as possible and will commit all resources available to get the developer to cooperate.

As of Tuesday morning, several City departments had begun working together to take quick action to bring the owner into compliance.

The owner, identified as Mehdi Boulour of Denley Investments, purchased the property in 2007 and rented it out to film production companies for some time, but locals now allege the owner has neglected to take care of the building.

Earlier this month, Boulour told the City that he plans to fix the property with proceeds from an insurance claim.

“I have a on going insurance claim of over $7,000,000.00 against all the damages to the property, of which the money I will use to repair the hospital,” he said in correspondence to Pollard. “These people that break in and damage my property must be apprehended by the City. I have many times called the authorities when there are break-ins, and they keep coming back.”

The City’s Code Compliance Manager Jon Pollard conducted a site visit to the building earlier this month.

According to an email obtained by Pasadena Now, Pollard discovered numerous unrestricted points of entry into the hospital building, including various doors that are unlocked, as well as basement and first floor windows that have been completely broken out.

Similarly, newly constructed security bars have been completely wrenched off the building. There is clear evidence of vandalism throughout the interior of the property.

“In short, conditions at the property are completely out of control,” Pollard wrote. “By way of an earlier e-mail to you, I noted that the property is both a ‘public nuisance’ and an ‘attractive nuisance.’ That assertion is clearly supported by a site visit.”

The hospital was built on the 11-acre site in 1933 and shut down in 2002 due to financial troubles. It has been vacant since it was shuttered and was used in movies like “Kill Bill.”

In 2013 the hospital was briefly considered by the City as an urgent care facility, but that proposal never really got off the ground after officials deemed the location outdated.

The City briefly explored, as one of several options, using the site as an emergency facility during COVID-19 pandemic, but the found the site unusable.

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Paul Little said that his organization has been keeping a close eye on the evolving situation.

“St. Luke’s is adjacent to a couple of medical office buildings and McDonald’s. I expect problems generated from the abandoned site impact the residents nearby more than businesses,” he said.

Little said that while the location offers tremendous opportunities, it also presents significant challenges.

“Because of the adjacent neighborhoods, some uses may be precluded. The building also requires significant investments to make it safe and upgrades to make it usable,” he said, adding he doesn’t favor the idea of the City buying the building.