Police Have Responded to Dozens of Calls For Service at Dilapidated Hospital Site

Since January of last year there have been nearly 100 calls for service to a dilapidated hospital that has now been deemed a public nuisance by City officials.

According to Lt. Monica Cuellar, Pasadena police have been called 96 times to the old St. Luke’s Hospital site on Washington Boulevard.

Of those phone calls 28 were officer-initiated “extra service” calls. Those calls occur when an officer initiates a call to conduct extra service most often at a problem location.

On Tuesday, a City official told Pasadena Now that several departments in the City have banded together to end the public nuisance at the location.

The site has fallen into disrepair with multiple broken windows and doors, graffiti and overgrown weeds.

The City’s Code Compliance conducted a site visit to the building earlier this month and discovered numerous unrestricted points of entry into the hospital building, including various unlocked doors, broken windows.

Newly constructed security bars have been removed from 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 site owner has received several citations. It is not known if they have been paid.

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.”

One video posted on Youtube just a few days ago by ghost chasers shows the inside of the now run down hospital which is covered in graffiti. 

According to the owner of the video, the participants in the video had no problems getting inside because the back door was open. 

The hospital was built on the 11-acre site in 1933 and shut down in 2002 due to financial troubles.

“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.”