The city of Hawthorne obtained a court order to pressure ownership of the long-languishing Hawthorne Plaza shopping center to get moving on their redevelopment plans or demolish the property within a year.

The permanent court injunction starts a countdown that runs out on Aug. 31, 2026. Failure to begin work means that the city can have the court appoint a receiver for the property, according to a release from the City of Hawthorne.

The property was already the subject of a 2021 city nuisance abatement action against mall owners The Charles Co. and affiliate M&A Gabaee, according to the release. It has been decaying and served as a postapocalyptic filming location since 2009, the Daily Breeze has reported.

Last month, Los Angeles city officials weighed declaring another Charles Co. property, the long-vacant Valley Plaza shopping center, a nuisance. The property has been the cause of hundreds of calls to police and fire departments, LAist reported.

The co-founder and co-managing partner of The Charles Co., Arman Gabaee, pleaded guilty in December 2022 to a bribery charge for making cash payments to an LA County official and received a four-year prison sentence.

The Hawthorne mall was part of that case. Gabaee's payments to the county official were in the hope of securing a $45M lease for county offices at the property.