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New owner of long-vacant McDonald's addresses squatting problems with lighting, security

The long-vacant old McDonald’s property on South Main Avenue finally has new ownership – and as many in the community may have seen while driving past the empty former restaurant, it’s been cleaned up substantially.

The new owner said he would like to get the building leased or sold within the next year.

The property at 1050 S. Main Ave. was purchased in April by Ross Industrial Company, owned by Ross Rose, who also operates Grande Laundry Place laundromats throughout North County including one location across the street from the former McDonald’s property in Fallbrook.

Rose, who said he is from Fallbrook and graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1981 though he now lives in Escondido, said his company also owns a lot adjacent to the old McDonald’s property and was in the process of turning that lot into a new, larger Grande Laundry Place – the new laundromat is planned to be finished in 2021 – when the neighboring vacant restaurant began to become a problem for the surrounding area.

In February, the leader of a homeless outreach group on Fallbrook, Brad Fox, shared images on social media that were taken during a visit to the former McDonald’s property with San Diego County sheriff’s deputies showing various personal belongings indicating the building was being inhabited.

Fox, whose organization is called Fallbrook Homeless Advocacy, was interviewed by Village News for a story about the former McDonald’s property that ran Feb. 13. He described finding “a TV and DVD player, blow-up beds, mattresses, drug paraphernalia, sex toys, you name it,” inside the disused store.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Crime Prevention Specialist Jake Kruger confirmed at the time that deputies frequently cleared out homeless people who would periodically move in.

Raffi Oghassabian, one of the owners of the former McDonald’s property, said in February that he had been unable to sell or lease the property in the years since he purchased it from McDonald’s Corp. in 2014 because of deed restrictions preventing another food establishment from using the lot. So, it continued to sit abandoned.

“Homeless have broken in multiple times,” Oghassabian said. “The more I board it up, the more problems I have.”

Oghassabian said he had tried to get the deed restrictions lifted by McDonald’s, but was unsuccessful.

Property records show Ross’ company purchased the former McDonald’s property about two months after Village News’ story ran.

“This McDonald’s thing became kind of an eyesore, and the price became a little more attractive, so we bought it,” he said.

Ross said his company is working with an architect to draft plans to potentially add square footage to the existing building. As of yet, though, nothing has been submitted to the appropriate authorities at the county for approval. Ross said the architect he is using estimated it would take four to six months to draft plans.

The goal, Ross said, is to get some kind of business moved into the property in the next year.

For now, while the property remains vacant, Ross said his company has worked to clean the former restaurant and its surroundings. The property has been repainted, and some formerly broken windows have been repaired or boarded up.

“We just wanted to make it look better for the community,” Ross said of the changes. He said his company has also taken steps to ensure no one will illegally occupy the building moving forward.

“We have nightly security service every night, and we added lights and took out some of the shrubs,” Ross said.

Since taking those measures, there have been no problems with break-ins, he said.

Ross said while he’s not sure at this point what kind of business will ultimately occupy the property, he does know one thing for certain – the deed restrictions originally described by Oghassabian remain in effect, so no restaurant will be going in there.

“Food can’t go there for 14 more years because of the deed restrictions,” Ross said.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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