Photo by Steven Kendrick.
Editor: Whatever it is called, whether Saratoga Park or Ocean Park Villas, the 12 unit, 3-story condo project slated for the corner of Abbott Street and Saratoga Avenue has been a source of controversy for a while now. Just recently we noticed a “For Sale” sign prominently displayed on the corner of the current, old two-story apartment building on the south-west corner. Allison W. Maris – a nom de plume of one of our bloggers – took the project and pledged to get to the bottom of it. Here is her or his or – whomever’s – report:
“O rose thou art sick. The invisible worm that flies in the night in the howling storm, has found thy bed of crimson joy and with its dark secret love does thy life destroy.”
– Wm. Blake
by Allison W. Maris
You see the sign. It dominates the northeast corner of what the former chair of the Ocean Beach Planning Board called a “controversial proposal.” A fresh wind of inquiry at your back, you set a course into the mysteries of Saratoga Park.
You access the real estate company website but can’t find a listing for the property. So calling Grubb and Ellis/BRE Commercial only to leave a message, you aren’t aware of lighting the cigarette. But for the natural pauses in communication you aren’t able to take in the heavily mentholated smoke as much as you’d like. And you’d like to…what the hell! It’s the holiday season and one of the agents should respond sooner or later.
Curiosity gets the best of you and the wild horses of your imagination are off to the races. Who owns this property? How much do they want? Why isn’t there a published listing? Does this have something to do with the Coastal Commission permit? What’s the common thread in all of this? What’s the obvious? What’s impossible? Where do you begin? – With the questions outnumbering the answers, you decide to ride the paper trail and so is born Allison M. private eye!
Allison handled her cell phone like a weapon. She would leave it in the car when she got there to avoid suspicion. She had already called Guy Friday to bring the car around as she felt the need for back-up going into this one. They were headed off to The County where there was bound to be an official record of some sort.
The art deco of the county building was the perfect starting point for unraveling the threads. Law enforcement, politicians, lawyers and clerks all gave our investigator the proper respect; all without ever once blowing her cover. Guy Friday was the perfect gentleman assistant even when called upon to take notes as Allison was otherwise engaged. After a few hours of work (less cigarette time) she headed back to Ocean Beach with Guy to chew over what they had found and plan the next step.
Abbott & Saratoga LLC headquartered at 17150 Via Del Campo, suite 205 in the San Diego zip code 92127 currently owns 1984 Abbott Street in Ocean Beach. The 2009 assessment for this property was on a total value of $3,284,438.
Allison resolved to take her weapon with her this time. The office park in Rancho Bernardo appeared quiet enough plus she had Guy Friday and “Muscle” Moon Dance remaining in the car covering her back; for a girl can never be too sure! And for sure, as soon as she checked out the directory and saw “Sidney Frank Importing Co.” listed for suite 205 her suspicions became aroused. She grabbed her weapon and dialed.
“Do we have the right address G?”
“Double check that, M.”
“I’m going in!”
“You want me to come with, Mom?”
Allison waived them off. Guy had it on speaker and Moon was riding the wave of indiscretion like a kid on a skateboard. There was no apparent security present and besides what could Sidney Frank Importing throw at her anyway? She got in the elevator and pressed 2.
There was no sign on suite 205 and the door was locked with two key locks and one electronic lock. Allison took a step back, thought that perhaps Sidney Frank was a heavier cat than she assumed, stepped forward and knocked. No answer. She hammered at the door and listened for activity. Nothing.
Back at the Noodle House the three of them went over what they knew and what they were going to do about it. Moon would be out of the picture. No need for muscle here. Guy would do the legwork downtown and Allison would get on the laptop to find out what else she could do to pierce the corporate veil that had been thrown over Saratoga Park.
You awake from your sleep, light another cigarette and try to get back in focus. Medical marijuana is a good solution for anxiety and allows you to flow in the stream of consciousness even though a few hits of OB Headband eventually lead to a nap. You turn on the computer, go over to the coffee to boot up on caffeine and cigs while the hard drive warms up. Well, what do you know…?
Abbott & Saratoga LLC is 20% Oakcrest Manor S D, 40% Tony Struyk and 40% Todd D. Struyk all as Tenants in Common. Sidney Frank Importing Co. Inc. is a New Rochelle, New York importer of specialty liquors. Best known for his distributorship of Jagermeister and Grey Goose vodka, Sidney Frank died in Rancho Santa Fe on January 10, 2006 of heart failure a year and a half after he sold the Grey Goose distributorship for $2 billion.
The coffee and the nicotine are doing their trick. You throw the Sidney Frank lead back as a red herring at least or a mail drop at best. After all, you’re a property manager who recognizes the value of covering your tracks, removing the stains and laundering the carpet of gold.
Oakcrest Manor S D is a California Corporation with an address in Mooresville, North Carolina with a guy by the name of Bill Benson out of Yucca Valley as the agent for service of process according to the December 11, 2009 State of California Business Portal.
Tony Struyk is the agent for service of process of Abbott & Saratoga LLC. T.S. has got to have some more information than what appears on state records. Who is this guy? What can be known about him? Why should we care? At this point the herbal remedies wane… Todd D. Struyk?
You’re a single mom so your focus turns to your son and the real people in your life… Hours delightfully drift in harmony with the sparkling winter luminaries. Divinity rests in the company of love, soothes you, calms you and dries your tears. Outside awaits tomorrow.
Today your spirit’s awakening precedes your beau’s caresses. The Joni Mitchell spills out like sunshine over the Otay to fill your day. No natural power, however, can control your mind. You are soon backing into active inquiry. Who is Tony Struyk? Who is Todd Struyk? Real people not their legal fictions hold your interest. You wish that all these corporate wormholes were banished from every aspect of our lives. Dream on, oh romantic dreamer.
Todd Struyk is the owner of Calpacific Mortgage in University City and a member of the Point Loma Ocean Beach Realty Association as well as Rotary Club 33, San Diego. Todd Struyk is a San Diego real estate agent and loan officer with Calpacific Mortgage. According to the Huffington Post, the Struyk household (including a self employed attorney named Jeff Lake) in Rancho Bernardo gave $5100 to the 2008 Presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.
According to I-Newswire (11/24/2009) a predatory lending suit filed on 11/20/09 in San Diego Superior Court alleged that Todd Struyk, Tony Struyk and CalPacific Mortgage Consultants Inc. engaged in loan sharking. The plaintiff, a disabled, retired sheriff’s deputy named Gregg Carling alleges that the Struyk brothers used a predatory lending scheme to defraud him out of his $3.25 million Point Loma home.
So is that it? Did the Struyks, under advice of counsel, put Saratoga Park up for sale as a contingency in the Carling lawsuit? Does the Coastal Commission permit give this property a “white paper” value in the sale? What will the future hold for the shadowy Abbott & Saratoga LLC?
You are left with only questions and a feeling shared by your family, your community and your country. But what is the fabric and weave of this feeling? How deep into the subconscious does it go? And why are you feeling it now? Is it a real person or another phantasm? Where in your world…? When, oh when…?
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
I hope “Allison” gives us another chapter in this mystery.
yes I say, yes and yes again- more Pulp reality Ms. Maris… signed Molly Bloomed
Very curious to hear more about these Struyk boys and their dealings with Saratoga Park.
Perhaps I’ll put in a bid on the property. Who did you say holds the current listing? Oh yes, that’s right….they don’t exist, do they?
You go Allison…we’re with you all the way.
Let me provide some additional information to this thread…
But first…it is an unfortunate blow to progress in OB. Finally, we had a plan to scrap some dingy old dinky units and put in some top-notch beach front condos to provide some adequate housing here in the hamlet of OB, but you pesky little pests stopped it. All of the little NIMBY’s out there should cheer in unison.
The OBPB never saw this one coming….because they don’t have an understanding of how permits are reviewed in the Cal Coastal Deferred area….nor do they pay attention… Too busy toking up I’m sure.
The applicant (doesn’t matter who it was….I certainly don’t care) had already been to the Cal Coastal Commission and had an approved permit to build an 11 unit condo building by combining the two or three structures which make up the entire area between Saratoga and the parking lot. OBPB never reviewed the plans because they don’t get to review and comment on plans unless the applicant is going for a City permit. Since the applicant was smart and deferred straight to the CCC….they didn’t have a chance until the applicant got greedy and decided to ask the City to vacate the adjacent alley as well so that they could add additional units to the project (presumably to make the building nicer).
OBPB was asked to review the alley vacation (which is process 5). The OBPB voted in FAVOR (thank goodness to them for seeing the need to make the place nicer). They have a website…I’m sure there are minutes from the meeting. All of the people who voted FOR this should be re-elected!!!
One of the members (I think the chair at the time) actually came down to the Council hearings and tried to speak against it….but Lombardi and others had him squashed down anyway and the vote was unanimous….if you care you could check out our web page and see the hearing (like september of 08 or something).
I’ll give the guy credit though….he somehow got the Council to get the applicant to agree to give like $100K to the community. Two weeks later….the OBPB began discussing a tot park in that Saratoga Park area. Smart going little anarchists….smart going.
Nobody is going to want to move into a multi-million dollar condo with kids playing in the backyard and bums sleeping in the merry go round all night.
So chaulk one up for the little hamlet. City – 12…..OB – 1…..
Still won’t stop progress down at Dog Beach….they are plowing those dumps every day now!!! Get’em while they’re hot!
cheering in unison…who’ll join me?
“Too busy tokin and chokin but I’m sure it wouldn’t interest…ouside of a small circle of friends”- Phil DeGrave
Lisa,
So many questions…..let’s start with why you moved to OB in the first place. What drew you here? Did you like its innate charm then or were your original intentions ones of changing it to suit your desires from the get-go? Community is about kinship, unity, and cooperative spirit…..are these woven threads of OB’s community why you moved here?
Where did you live before? What was that community like and why did you leave it? Not gentrified enough for your liking? “…blow progress in OB….” who’s definition of progress are you really rooting for? Not all of us want the kind of progress you mention.
As for your own words of …”pesky little pests…” how looking-down-your-nose-at-those-you-deem-lesser-than of you. Your apparent lack of understanding of “commuity” comes shining through in your own words.
Stay or go, I don’t care what you choose to do. Yet, while you’re here could you just open your eyes long enough to begin to understand what a special commuity OB is where the community as a whole has fought long and hard to be what it is? Bottom line, if you really don’t like it here, it’s a big, big world out there. Perhaps Dubai would be more to your liking. I hear the newest rotating high rise is spectacular.
Excellent questions Sunshine! Dubai. You are too funny.
And don’t worry, I’ll still come out to play.
oh goodie, Jon! I’ll bring the pail and you bring the shovel. Meet me at fire pit #9.
oh yes, that would be the condo building with underground parking that would flood regularly thanks to its location (nr the beach, just above the water table) . of course the City would no doubt give them an exemption so they could pump their water out onto the street, just like what happened in North Park, where a condo was built on top of a spring. as to the “need” for housing… gosh, there certainly are a lot of unsold condos sitting around these days… ya think maybe the market is overbuilt?
I’m printing LisaouttaOB stickers as we type….get ’em while they’re hot! lol.
Listen up OB- if you are not SoCal young&gorgeous, please do not obstruct the views of these multi-million dollar condo owners who only want to bring progress (and damn good taste) to OB. A tot-lot? god forbid! Socialist/anarchist larva all over the place….
Jon- give me two of those stickers.
Only hate me cuz I’m telling the truth…. check it out if you want…It’s all out there for you.
I like the name-change. Hope it sticks….
You know, for all your talk of progress in your last few snarky, antagonistic posts, I’m afraid you’re missing the point of what true progress is. Here’s a little “truth” for ya. Progress is not made up solely of brick and mortar. I’m sorry your just a material girl living in a material world….That’s, like, soooo 1985.
Shiny new million dollar condo projects or McMansions at the foot of Saratoga does not a progressive commuunity make. Quite the contrary. If you were really interested in true progress, you would be more concerned with what becomes of the torn down building materials at the site. If you were really in tune to progress, you would be more concerned with how the new proposed building is going to be constructed (will they use recycled, sustainable building materials?). You would want to know if this new project was going to use solar panels or wind turbines, if they were going to install ocean-friendly gardens that don’t create wasteful, ocean-polluting runoff every time it rains. You might wonder if they will install a rooftop garden. You would want to know if perhaps some of those old building materials could be incorporated in this new project. Instead, your idea of progress seems to be tear down the old and put up a shiny plastic-fantastic new building. You….are in the wrong community. Try La Jolla.
Stickers are in the mail Anna.
By the side of the road…I fell in loveWith a beautiful highway….This used to be real estate, Now it’s only fields and trees, Where, where is the town, Now, it’s nothing but flowers….The highways and cars Were sacrificed for agriculture I thought that we’d start over, But I guess I was wrong, Once there were parking lots, Now it’s a peaceful oasis…….
p.s. I don’t hate you. I feel sorry for you. “Hate” is soooooo 1995.
“They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put ’em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot”
~Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi
Lisa, Please help me to understand. Could you direct me to where “out there” is? Just some clear orderly direction if you will. We’re not as stupid or lazy as you may have been led to believe. Again I repectfully request that you cite some of the source documentation for your claims. We are dealing with the lives and livelihood of an entire community. YOUR COMMUNITY, Lisa! So please, help us all achieve some degree of clarity, integrity, honesty and compassion in this dialogue.
Thnx Lisa for making the Blake quote at the beggining of the article clear to me. Now I know who the invisible worm is and what the rose represents. On a lighter note your love of community and your fellows is a bacon of light for future generations to go by. As far as the character and decision making process of the OBPB I hope there are some members of the board who will step up to the plate and offer some clarification on this issue. And thank you for your service to the “people” of San Diego and “your” community of Ocean Beach. While your at it say hi to Matt Awbrey and the other members of Councilmember Faulconer’s staff for me.
– Peace on You-
Danny
Sure….Danny…and you are right…its MY COMMUNITY. I live, own and vote right here… but I don’t work for an elected member…just a hard workin’ civil servant who pays attention to what is going on.
You can watch the council hearing to which I refer at the following location:
http://granicus.sandiego.gov/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3
23 Sep 08 — council — Item 334 — Ocean Park Villas
Make sure you forward to the part where the vote was unanimous…its my favorite.
Jon — nice haiku…really…lovely… But all the haiku and dope in the world isn’t going to stop progress. Just take a walk to the alley half a block away or to dog beach and see two magnificent beach homes being built to finally clean up this beach ghetto. Its too darn bad that this project is halted because it was really going to clean up that dumpy block down there as well. And no….I don’t really care about your recycling and solar hogwash…that doesn’t make you progressive either…just rich enough to “build green”. Although, from what I remember of the project…the entire roof was to be for sundecks of the building and the entire back was open patios and awesome full height windows. We progressives do love our sunsets. In the end…they would have been awesome and there was a ton of support from both the OBPB and also from the community (tons of calls and emails in support). So…its a shame really…and none of this poetry or blogging had any opposition to the project. You just got lucky that the funding didn’t come through.
In the end…OB gets exactly what it deserves…. A dumpy and dingy block….AND no tot park. A lose and lose situation. Thats great though….for a community of losers.
No no my dear, a Haiku would be:
Lisa in OB
Has a chip on her shoulder
Why won’t she just leave
I was quoting the Talking Heads. You know, dope smoker music. They sang a really ironic song about people like you who thought they were “progressive” but were in fact the antithesis of progression. You suck, I’m done chatting with you.
Jon,
Will you still come out and play with the rest of us?
Sure some of us believe that Lisa’s ideas are askew at best, but we can all get along, can’t we? Last I checked the sand box was big enough for all of us. Lisa just wants it bigger, shinier, and fully able to block out the magnificent ocean view. Silly girl. She says she votes yet I don’t think she realizes that the rest of us do too. Take it all in stride, my friend. OB has a way of creating its own reality and will prevail.
Lisa, you have thoroughly misused the word “ghetto”. If thats your picture of OB, then why do you live here? Maybe its the accessible public services, like schools and a popular library. Maybe the beautifully clean beaches, as compared to other beach communities across the country. Maybe its the multitude of diverse restaurants and small businesses all within walking distance. Maybe its the co-op, where you can buy cruelty free food items without having to think twice. Or the especially low crime rate. Is is the high concentration of medical and dental services? Or is it the community of people that love and respect OB, that are engaged in civic affairs and take the interests of the people who aren’t involved to heart when making decisions?
I’m thinking that maybe its not any of those things. Because those are certainly not the characteristics of a ghetto. So why would you live here?
I know – its the high land value! Oh….wait. Homebuyers can usually grab a home in a “ghetto” for next to nothing. Here in OB, I’ve seen single family homes on “dumpy” blocks like mine being sold for close to a million dollars. So it can’t be that.
Just because this project didn’t go as you would have liked doesn’t mean you can characterize this community as one that is destitute. This is a beautiful place. It may have some frayed edges, but this is a ‘hood where people live comfortably and without having to scrape and claw to get basic things.
Thanks Lisa for your prompt reply to my request for source documentation for your arguments. Like yourself I’m a working person, (currently in the defense industry – 7d.x10hr) so it may be some time before I get to review the entertaining parts.
Like yourself I’ve some heartburn w/ OB civic culture and its institutions (the Rag included) although for probably different reasons. Differences aside I would welcome the opportunity to discuss w/ you our hopes for, dreams of and experiences from OUR Community.
With that in mind, you may avail yourself of my email address from the editors of this blog in order to continue the conversation at a time and place of mutual convenience.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Danny
Keep on writing Allison! Looks like Struyk is a local boy based on city permit for project no. 125524 this property had it’s own interesting events based on info of
That’s the same building that was in our local news last May.
http://obrag.org/?p=7952
On a side note, has anyone here in O.B. ever met Lisa in person?
Dave,
I haven’t as yet met LisainOB. Perhaps she’s too busy gasing up her petrol guzzling imported auto on her way to/from La Jolla to spend any time considering what’s undermining our community.
If she were commited to OB, you’d think she’d spend more time involved in what’s going on around here. Then again, perhaps she just likes to stir the pot.
Who knows why some move here and want to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Speaking only for myself, I did vote in favor of the action item related to this site as a member of the OBPB (which was regarding a vacation of public access easements and a tentative map waiver, and not the specific project itself).
I am happy to discuss that vote with people individually or listen to their thoughts on it, but I won’t go into it too much here because (a) it is unfair to applicants, and (b) the rules about appropriate forms of communication for board members within social media forms are rather ill-defined. That discussion between board members on projects or potential projects should happen during public meetings is a basic rule of thumb I will live by here.
I will say this… it was by far the most difficult vote I have yet had to make in trying to represent OB, with many strong arguments on all sides.
Other general points not related to a particular project:
In my personal opinion, if there is an issue over the need for public access to private property, the burden of proof should be on the government and not the property owner.
Also… I have said it here before, and I will say it again. The community character of OB is absolutely worth preserving. Planners spend years of their lives trying to create vibrant places such as what already exists here. If I had to choose between preserving the community that exists in OB and enhancing the City’s tax base so that miserable civil servants who hate the public can make it to their pension before getting laid off… well… I’m taking OB.
I know I wouldn’t live here if I resented the community so much.
Seth,
Thanks for stepping up to the plate regarding the OBPB deliberations over the Ocean Park Villas. It’s been my experience that a developer can get a project past the board if they focus on the technical letter (vacation of public easments, tentative map waivers, FAR and the like) instead of the spirit (Residential Land Use and Housing, Public Facilities, Community Appearance and Design elements) of the OB Precise Plan. In short they get “smoked” on every occasion to leave people like Lisanob with the impression that the board has been tokin’ up. And so it goes. Again thanks.
Danny
Danny,
That’s appreciated, and pretty interesting. Speaking as a private citizen, my experience has been quite the opposite. The current Precise Plan has become increasingly toothless as far as I can tell, while the more technical issues such as FAR variances and interpretations of parking requirement have generally presented greater challenges to some projects.
I would very much like to see some version of the draft Precise Plan adopted, as it is a good document that many people have worked very hard on. I think it would be very beneficial to the community moving forward.
Good Morning Seth,
Faith without works is dead! Any foundation document (Bible, Constitution, Precise Plan or what have you) requires the flesh and blood (and yes tooth and nail) of real human beings to give it life and and meaning. As long as I have air in my lungs my I will remain actively passionate about my family, my community and my class. Grassroots democracy demands no less of me. Patriotism demands no less of me. And Life itself…
Best regards,
Danny
Very nice, private eye Maris
I lived in these apartments for the last two years, and just moved out a week ago. My ex-neighbors say that there was anywhere from 3 inches to a foot of water in their apartments yesterday. I wonder how much water would have gone into the underground parking garage that was to be built under the 12 new condos? It baffles me that the garage was ever approved of in the first place. Now that we have photos of the flooding, I can’t wait to see what the owner is going to do now.
Ironically, in the original report filed with the CCC (living there, I read all 30 pages of it), it says that the corner of Abbott and Saratoga has NEVER experienced flooding in the past 50 years…
Coronado has fancy housing for rich people. Point Loma has fancy housing for rich people (near the waterfront at least). Downtown has fancy housing for rich people. Mission Beach has fancy housing for rich people. Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Leucadia, Cardiff, all these places have fancy housing for rich people. I think we can stand to have one beach not exclusively composed of fancy housing for rich people…
Oh, and the property just hit the MLS (I’d looked for it when this story first came out) – $4,700,000, including “shovel ready” plans to build 12 units…at about $295,000 a door for 8 1br/1ba units and 8 studios, methinks this could end up much like the old preschool off Ebers, sitting around forever because the price for the property as an investment is outrageous and the market timing for redevelopment is off…
PSD – thanks for the “shovel ready” info on the property.
The site is blocked from public view on realtor.com…I’ll post the remarks tomorrow.