After more than a decade left abandoned, dozens of reported fires and more than two hundred complaint calls, the building that once housed a popular burger joint at 4th and Soto streets near Roosevelt High School has been demolished.
The shell of the former Tom’s Burgers was the epicenter of a brewing public safety crisis as squatters began to occupy the abandoned building starting in 2022. Reports of fires, graffiti and encampments to 311 began to inundate city services.
On Sunday, bulldozers rolled onto the property, according to Jorge Gallegos, who owns the home next to the former eatery. Gallegos said he has endured years of stress brought on by the noise and fires coming from people inside the building. Now he’s relieved that it will come to an end…