Mira Mesa’s abandoned Epicentre building is on the cusp of new management as city leaders have OK’d a real estate deal that will allow the county to remodel and reopen the long-shuttered property fronting Mira Mesa Boulevard.

Tuesday, the San Diego City Council unanimously approved a 45-year lease agreement with San Diego County. Under the contract, the county will pay $1 per month — or $540 in total not including operating costs — to rent and manage the facility as a youth-focused community center.

With their vote, the council also formally designated the property as exempt surplus land and waived two council policies, one that would have required the city to obtain market rent for the site and the other designed to prevent conflicts of interests in real estate transactions.

The action tees up the lease’s consideration by the County Board of Supervisors on July 17. The county, which has already allocated $10.5 million for improvements, expects to start construction in early 2025.

“(The lease) is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity. … This level of partnership is rarely seen between the county and the city. We’re talking about a more than $10 million investment for the benefit of Mira Mesa, and it is a unique opportunity that I hope sets a precedent for future regional collaboration,” said Councilmember Kent Lee, who represents the community. “I truly believe that this is a path to what we all want for the site, which is revitalization and activation.”

The home of Mira Mesa’s first library from 1977 through the mid-90s, the 8,086 square-foot, city-owned building at 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd., across the street from Mira Mesa High School, was refashioned into the youth-focused Epicentre in 1998. That’s when nonprofit Harmonium assumed operation of the facility as a teen center.

The operator also used the space as an all-ages concert venue, hosting local and national indie-rock and punk artists, including Jimmy Eat World, New Found Glory, Eve 6, Box Car Racer, Jason Mraz and Maroon 5.

In 2016, Harmonium backed out of its lease with the city and the building has remained closed to the community ever since. The following year, the city sought a replacement operator but there was no interest in the site.

The lack of interest, the city has said, was because of federal requirements associated with a Community Development Block Grant. In 2013, Harmonium spent $99,553 in grant funds to repair the building’s roof and faulty sewer system, according to information included in the city’s appraisal of the building.

The city plans to reimburse the grant program in full to remove the federal compliance and operating restrictions. San Diego will, however, get the money back to use for other programs, Christina Bibler, who runs the city’s real estate division, told the Union-Tribune.

In the years since its closure, the Epicentre has been largely left unattended, and the exterior of the property was often tagged with graffiti, littered with trash and overrun by weeds. The building’s windows were also boarded up to prevent additional vandalism.

Earlier this year, a city appraiser valued the 1.2-acre property at $1.6 million, in light of the building’s condition, zoning that only allows for park use and the building’s anticipated reuse as a community center. Although the building’s interior is in poor condition and is in need of extensive repair, there are no material deferred maintenance needs or structural issues, the appraisal determined.

The lease agreement shifts nearly all of the building’s repair and upkeep needs, including asbestos remediation, to the county.

The contract also paves the way for the Epicentre’s revival, which was spearheaded by County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.

The county’s parks and recreation department, which is overseeing the project and will operate the facility, intends to run the site as a youth-focused community center.

The Epicentre will offer daily drop-in recreational and social activities, alongside mentoring and tutoring services, music and art programs, gardening and cooking classes, and fitness classes, according to county plans included in the lease. The current design calls for a kitchen, game room, music room, workspaces and lounge spaces. The project also includes a garden, outdoor recreational and lounge areas, and an open lawn.

The agreement, which is three years in the making, was praised at Tuesday’s council meeting by more than 20 community members, including several current and former Mira Mesa High School students.

“The county’s vision for this building is absolutely wonderful for the Mira Mesa Community,” said Bari Vaz, who is president of the Mira Mesa Town Council. “It was formerly just a teen center, and will now be a teen and community center serving the entire population.”

Conversely, several speakers, most wearing We Love Mira Mesa T-shirts and affiliated with the Mira Mesa Concerned Citizens group, asked council members to hold off on approval.

Group members objected to the lease forgoing an initial review by a council committee and asked the city to formally dedicate the property as park land. Some also questioned whether the land was properly zoned and posited that commercial development might be allowed if the county’s revival effort failed. Others argued that the city deliberately shut out community input.

“Today, the city does the residents of Mira Mesa a disservice by manufacturing an emergency to bypass the Land Use and Housing Committee and going straight to the full council with the proposed lease,” said Lainie Hardman, who helps run the Mira Mesa Concerned Citizens group. “This action is incredibly disrespectful to the residents of Mira Mesa and effectively removes our voice from the city’s portion of this process. Repeatedly throughout this process, the city has attempted to silence the voices of Mira Mesa residents and has been antagonistic toward those who do not blindly support this project.”

Former Councilmember Chris Cate, who currently chairs the Mira Mesa Community Planning Group, said he was frustrated by the opposition.

“This should be a day of celebration. … Instead, we’re having to deal with outright lies and fear mongering about what could come to the Epicentre,” he said during the public comment period. “This should be a very easy action. This should be routine. This is something we should celebrate and move on. And let’s get to the point of actually having construction done and moving forward.”

Bibler, in an interview with the Union-Tribune, also pushed back on criticism related to public input, characterizing the working relationship between the city and county as a model for government partnerships.

“This goes back to 2021,” she said. “The (county) did a really extensive community outreach process with all of their surveys.”

In 2022 and 2023, the county’s parks and recreation department used online surveys and hosted public forums to collect feedback on the Epicentre’s proposed design and anticipated programs. A flyer promoting the agency’s outreach efforts says the county sent out nearly 34,000 mailers to residents and businesses.

“(The Epicentre is) going to be a great place that we can all be really proud of, and the public purpose will really be served,” Bibler said. “This is a good real estate transaction. And I hope that the partnership resounds and is a model for how other communities can work together and work with the community.”

City council members voted 7-0 in favor of the lease agreement with the county. Councilmembers Marni von Wilpert and Vivian Moreno were absent.

With their vote, council members also waived a policy requiring lease language to allow the city to terminate the lease if the county employs a former city employee that may have participated in the transaction within the past 12 months. While there are some county employees who recently worked for the city, no county employee who worked at the city within the past year worked on this lease, Bibler said.

The vote comes a month after council members signed off on a $43.3 million construction contract for the overhaul of Mira Mesa Community Park.