Catholic Charities Inc. and the city of Los Angeles are a step closer to a final settlement of a legal dispute in which the organization sought a court order allowing it to tear down a 100-year-old Westlake District building it purchased in 2018, but had allegedly been prevented from doing so on historical and later environmental grounds.
Attorneys told Los Angeles Superior Court James C. Chalfant of the tentative resolution during a Tuesday hearing. Final settlement approval is up to the City Council.
The lawyers had announced a settlement “in principle” in September, so the latest developments place the case closer to a closing resolution. No terms were divulged. Chalfant told the lawyers during the September hearing that he would set the case for trial if the agreement was not finalized by Tuesday.
According to the Catholic Charities petition, the building at 846 S. Union Ave. was built in 1923-24, is three stories tall, spans 20,775 square feet and has been occupied by various organizations, beginning with the B’nai B’rith Lodge Association to most recently the Lighthouse Mission Church.
“Catholic Charities has repeatedly and consistently clarified that its intention is to simply demolish the building, which is plagued by mold and structural and seismic insecurities that make the building dangerous and financially unfeasible to use or maintain,” the petition states.
The charity also spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain and secure the building, which is vacant, deteriorated and unstable, the petition filed last Jan. 26 states.
Catholic Charities bought the building in September 2018 because it is located next to the organization’s main office and within a block of the Immaculate Conception Church and school, according to the petition, which further states that no firm plans are in place for use of the land once the building is razed.
The organization submitted its first two demolition application permits in 2019 and…
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