Marion seeks the title of dilapidated former Maid-Rite building

MARION — The City of Marion has filed a petition asking the court to deem a dilapidated building on Seventh Avenue, which has become an “eyesore” to the recently-completed $6.9 million streetscape and plaza project, as abandoned property and grant the property title to the city.

The Owen Block building, also known as the former Maid-Rite restaurant, at 1000 7th Ave., has been vacant for six or seven years, Marion City Manager Ryan Waller told The Gazette. The building is in disrepair with broken windows and still has damage from the derecho in 2020.

According to the petition filed in January, the partially boarded-up building doesn’t meet city code requirements for human habitation, occupancy or use. Multiple broken windows around the building have left the interior exposed to weather conditions and contributed to further deterioration of the property.

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The petition contends Marion City Square, LLC — owned by Joe Hill, of San Jose, Calif., and Jamie Hoth of Marion — hasn’t made sufficient efforts to rehabilitate or renovate the building and grounds. Property taxes or special assessments were delinquent when the petition was filed, and the owners also haven’t complied with abatement orders for ongoing violations of city code, according to the petition.

Waller said the city placed fencing around the building as a public safety measure because of the unsecured entryways into the building to prevent incidents of falls or other injuries if an individual entered the property.

The building, if the city is granted the title of the property, may be renovated and restored because of its significance and historical appearance, Waller said. Those plans would have to be discussed with the city council.

Building’s two owners are ‘deadlocked’

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The city’s petition asks the court to find the property as abandoned within the meaning of Iowa code 657A.10B and to grant the city the title to the property.

Joe Hill, in a motion to intervene filed Jan. 30, said he and Hoth don’t agree on how to manage the Marion City Square, and since there is no operating agreement between the two, each has equal rights as management.

However, because management of the business is “deadlocked” the owners can’t effectively respond to the petition, according to Hill’s motion. Hill wants to be allowed to defend the city’s action and has denied the allegations of the petition.

Sixth Judicial District Senior Judge Mitchell Turner, in his February ruling, said Hill holds an interest in the property under Iowa Code and has an interest relating to the property which is the subject of the petition, and that interest isn’t adequately represented by existing parties. Hill will be added as a defendant in the petition, along with Marion City Square.

A civil trial has not been set at this time.

Three decades of loose meat sandwiches

The building, built in 1880, was home to a Maid-Rite restaurant for more than 30 years. In January 2017, longtime owner, Ellie Osborn Riley and her daughters, Teri and Nicole, who help run the business, announced they planned to close the franchise.

At the time, Osborn Riley said the closure wasn’t prompted by lack of business.

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“It's just time for a change, to do something else with less stress,” Osborn Riley told The Gazette in 2017.

Three years later, Hill and Hoth announced plans to purchase the building at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 10th Street. They planned to renovate it into a family restaurant and Airbnb.

Hill told The Gazette he was going to reopen it as a Maid-Rite but those plans didn’t materialize.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com