Arturo
Editor-at-Large
Over 1,000 City of San Diego employees were moved into the 101 Ash Street building in December 2019 and January 2020 without final building inspections that would have required that all of the fire life safety equipment be certified to be working, and after City leaders were warned by the general contractor that the systems were not operable, but City staff then misrepresented the building status to the press, the public, and even the San Diego Ethics Commission.
The building, which served as the corporate headquaters of San Diego Gas & Electric and later its parent company Sempra Energy for more than 45 years, was leased by the City in January 2017 under a 20-year lease-to-own agreement, then the City spent more than $30 million in renovations before the building was ultimately abandoned in late January 2020 due to asbestos exposure.