Closed Tacoma convenience store has become an eyesore. Who’s responsible for cleanup?
A 7-Eleven that recently closed in South Tacoma has become an eyesore and host to vandalism and transients, nearby business owners say.
Sasha Monir manages the property at 1430 72nd Street E. for her father, Morteza Vaghefi, who owns it. She told The News Tribune 7-Eleven has a multi-year lease on the property and closed the store on Nov. 4.
Since closing, the windows have been boarded up. Graffiti has been tagged across multiple sides of the building. Trash litters the parking lot, and folks can regularly be seen loitering and sleeping in front of the closed business.
Monir said 7-Eleven has a triple net lease agreement which makes it legally responsible for its upkeep. Monir and her father both live outside of Washington, making it difficult for them to check in on the property.
Monir told The News Tribune she was unaware of any of the vandalism and other issues at the property.
“They are responsible for maintaining the property,” she told The News Tribune. “But it is hard to control people. They are such a large corporation.”
7-Eleven did not respond to The News Tribune’s requests for comment on the state of the property.
On Dec. 16, a spokesperson for the City of Tacoma, Maria Lee, said city inspectors had visited the property within the previous week to check for code violations.
“The property was inspected and the building was secure with no nuisance violations found,” she told The News tribune in an email. “There was graffiti. A case will be created for that and the property owner will be notified.”
The property sits just inside the border of the City of Tacoma, with unincorporated Pierce County just on the other side.
Dennis Miller is an owner of Northwestern Environmental, an environmental-contracting company with offices located a block or so South of the closed 7-Eleven.
Miller told The News Tribune the area has been a hot spot for all sorts of transient activity. According to him, his business has been affected.
He recalled finding feces on the sidewalk in front of his business, evidence of campfires near his front door, and employees that had been harassed by loiterers in the parking lot.
One morning employees found people sleeping in the back of company trucks parked in their lot, Miller said.
He said encampments are not uncommon in the area. He said a large undeveloped lot across the street from his business was recently host to a swath of encampments.
Pierce County’s Code Enforcement mapping tool shows multiple complaints have been made regarding encampments, debris, brush fires and human waste in the undeveloped lots south of the closed 7-Eleven.
All of the complaints are marked as “active” as of Dec. 16, with one dating as far back as May 23.
“There is a homeless encampment that has well over 50 people inside of it. Garbage has been left on our property as well from these transients,” one complaint filed on Oct. 3 read. “We have had to set up traps for rodents that have come into our building because of this encampment. The sheriff’s office has been there multiple times. They have cut the fence in multiple areas not just gaining access through an unsecured gate.”
