'Don't You Want Us Back?' Commercial Property Owners On The Hook For Cleanup After LA Fires

Flames still raged in the Los Angeles area when Matt Schodorf lined up at the county planning department to kick off the rebuilding of his coffee shop, Café de Leche. The shop formerly sat on Altadena’s Lake Avenue but had been reduced to ash and rubble mere days before.

Many of its neighbors suffered the same fate as the Eaton fire bore down on the small community, just one of many fires that blazed across Southern California in January. 

Three months later, Schodorf and other property owners along Altadena’s commercial thoroughfare still want to rebuild to get their lives back on track. 

But standing between Schodorf and a new version of the 1920s-era white-and-turquoise shop he kept is a pile of twisted metal, fallen walls, broken glass and red roof tiles, all covered with ash and, more than likely, pollutants emitted by burning chemicals, paint and batteries.

As debris from homes in the area has been cleared, commercial property owners learned that the same service was not guaranteed for them. The federal policy has been in place for decades, but is unknown to many operators until disaster strikes. Now, the extra work and expense of debris removal weighs on Altadena's small businesses.

“The fact that we're kind of an afterthought sucks, you know?” Schodorf said. “I feel like we are a really important part of the community. Residents should come first, I'm not trying to jump to the head of the line. We just want to be a part of the fabric of rebuilding.”

Commercial buildings, including coffee shops, liquor stores, retail storefronts, bars, restaurants and even income-generating residential properties are not typically eligible for federally funded debris removal programs. That cleanup is usually left to the property owners to fund and carry out. 

In a neighborhood like Altadena, where its small town-style commercial core was among the areas decimated by the fire, that could mean those businesses are slower to return, in turn changing the face and feel of the Altadena that returns from the ashes.

The Eaton fire destroyed 153 commercial properties and 97 multifamily buildings, and damaged another 33 and 28, respectively. Two mixed-use projects were damaged and five were destroyed, according to data from the Los Angeles County CEO Coordinated Joint Information Center. 

In the Palisades, 72 commercial properties were destroyed or damaged by the eponymous fire that burned along with the Eaton on the other side of the city, according to data provided by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office.

Business owners that spoke with Bisnow emphasized that while it makes sense that single-family homeowners are first in line for their lots to get cleared, commercial businesses here aren’t big-box stores or conglomerate-owned. This is a community of small businesses, where it’s not uncommon for a property to be owned by the same family for years, for the building owner to live in the neighborhood, or for buildings to be owned by the proprietors of the businesses they house. 

“They're not bailing out large corporations,” Schodorf said of assistance for commercial debris clearing. “They're helping serve the immediate community.”

Teresa Fuller, a residential broker with Compass, lived and worked in Altadena, getting an estimated 38% of her business every year from within the community. She also owned a three-story commercial building that burned down in the fire. The building had a couple of commercial tenants but also housed a garden where Fuller grew native plants she used for her residential listings. 

For people like Fuller, who invested themselves in Altadena and built a life around the neighborhood, “it’s a little bit of a bitter pill” to learn that she might not be getting the same treatment as someone who lost their home when it comes to lot clearing. 

“Don’t you want us back?” Fuller asked. “Do you want small businesses back?” 

Fuller feels confident her insurance will cover the cost of debris removal if it comes down to it, but it will not provide enough for her to rebuild. Those costs she plans to pay out of pocket. 

Schodorf said his insurance will only cover a fraction of the $70K or $80K he’s heard it could cost for him to clear his site, not including the cost of testing to ensure that all the harmful chemicals and compounds are removed as well.  

Leaving cleanup in the hands of private owners does present a potential issue: What will happen if Schodorf cleans up his lot and rebuilds quickly, but his neighbors are slower or don’t at all? He’ll have a cute coffee shop flanked by fire debris. 

“So I clear my lot, but I’ve got all this debris around me that we're all breathing?” Schodorf asked. “I mean, that's not good.” 

Local representatives have taken notice of the exclusion of commercial properties and have advocated for their inclusion. In late March, condos and some multifamily were included.

In a Friday press release, Gov. Gavin Newsom noted that commercial properties aren’t usually included in or eligible for this process but that commercial properties would be reviewed on “a case-by-case basis.” 

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena, said in an emailed statement to Bisnow that her office has heard indirectly that insurance gaps and uncertainty in the rebuilding process are causing challenges for commercial owners trying to move ahead from the fires. Barger has sent letters to FEMA and advocated for a broader swath of properties to be included in the debris removal.

“Their recovery is not just important — it’s essential to the broader stability and growth of our local economy,” Barger said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are the ones with the final say, as they’re spearheading the removal, but FEMA says that local officials are key to pushing for commercial property inclusion. 

“For commercial property owners hoping for expanded eligibility, changes would likely need to come through local government advocacy, policy waivers, or a mission assignment adjustment by FEMA/USACE, which historically has required strong justification,” FEMA Region 9 Public Affairs Officer Brandi Richard Thompson told Bisnow in an email. 

“Policy adaptations can occur, but they are rare and typically based on the scale of the disaster, environmental concerns, or unique community needs,” Thompson added.  

Horvath, whose district includes the areas affected by the Palisades fire, is advocating for commercial owners to submit Right of Entry, or ROE, forms, even though the messaging from FEMA has consistently been that commercial properties are not expected to be included. 

That the situation is in flux is a disadvantage to commercial owners, said broker Jihad Shakoor. His father owned a commercial storefront that housed Shakoor Realty and Finance, a family business his father founded in the 1970s. His father also owned the commercial building next door to the realty office as well as a couple of rental properties in Altadena. 

Shakoor is hopeful that commercial sites will eventually be on the list as well – so hopeful that although the family’s offices are a pile of rubble along Lake Avenue, Shakoor says they’re going to submit the necessary paperwork and wait to hear whether the federal government’s program will clean it up rather than get to work with private contractors.  

But Shakoor worries that the lack of clarity around commercial properties’ inclusion will mean that some commercial owners will fall through the cracks. 

“I think that's going to be the challenge. Who got the information, who didn't hear it, who heard it too late, you know?” Shakoor said. 

With an April 15 deadline to submit ROEs approaching, Horvath’s director of communications, Constance Farrell, said their camp is making a big push for people to submit the forms regardless in anticipation that once all the forms are submitted, supervisors and elected officials can use them to make a case for their inclusion. 

Much in the way one can’t win the lottery without buying a ticket, Farrell said, “You can’t be considered if you don’t submit your ROE.”