One year later, we don’t know why The Sub burned down or what its future holds

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify the results of the city’s investigation.

Nearly a year after a fire gutted the longtime San Luis Obispo novelty gift store The Sub, the city has deemed the official cause as “undetermined” due to its investigators not re-entering the building to honor a request by the property owner, who’s insurance company is conducting its own investigation.

The main retail building at 295 Higuera St. may need to be demolished, city officials say, but the property owner has submitted plans to remodel and repair an adjacent building that was only slightly damaged in the Dec. 26, 2015, fire that took 15 fire engines more than 11 hours to extinguish.

Sub store owner Richard Ferris has criticized the city, claiming that responders did not properly fight the fire, which he alleges on social media was caused by arson. Ferris has filed six administrative claims against the city, seeking millions of dollars in damages related to the Fire Department’s response.

Those claims were rejected by the city in September, City Attorney Christine Dietrick said Thursday, and Ferris and related parties have six months to file a lawsuit in San Luis Obispo Superior Court should they choose to proceed further.

To that end, Dietrick wrote in an email that firefighters responded to the incident “effectively, appropriately and professionally” and expects the city to “vigorously” defend against any lawsuit related to the fire.

It is not clear if Ferris is an owner of the building; he could not be reached for comment Thursday. His daughter, Kjerstin Ferris, declined to comment in an email to The Tribune.

The city’s official report of the fire states its cause as “undetermined.” San Luis Obispo Fire Department Chief Garret Olson said that’s mostly because city investigators have not been able to enter the building while the owners’ insurance company investigation is ongoing.

“The reason the cause of the fire is ruled as undetermined by the city is based on the request by the building owner to preserve the integrity of the scene for the building owners’ insurance investigators,” Olson wrote in an email Thursday, adding that the building was too unstable immediately following the fire for investigators to enter safely.

“Rendering the building safe would have likely disrupted the condition of the building and impacted a subsequent (insurance company) investigation … We left the building undisturbed for the insurance company fire investigators,” Olson wrote.

Since there was no credible indication that the property was a crime scene and there were no injuries, the city honored the building owners’ request to not disturb the interior, Olson wrote, though the city has examined the exterior and interviewed witnesses.

Olson said the city has not been contacted by any representative of an insurance company claiming to have evidence the fire was the result of any crime, though the department’s report notes that employees reported a customer inside a smoke room near a front display window just moments before the fire is believed to have started in that area.

The man, who remains unidentified, reportedly alerted two Sub employees to the fire. That person is believed to have watched the scene for at least an hour after firefighters began their attack.

“Although no evidence was obtained during the investigation which linked this individual to the cause of the fire, his presence inside the smoke room at the time when the fire was first reported merits further consideration,” the report reads.

Moving forward, residents wonder when the dilapidated and smoke-stained buildings a block away from a busy downtown San Luis Obispo intersection will be repaired or rebuilt.

This week, San Luis Obispo Community Development Department Director Michael Codron sent a memo to members of the City Council updating them about Ferris’ plans to reconstruct the next-door warehouse at 303 Higuera St. as well as the possible need to demolish the entire main building before any construction is done.

Since the fire, the property owner erected braces to reinforce the building and installed a fence to keep pedestrians and traffic away, and removed debris, asbestos and lead from the site. The city completed a cleanup of surrounding public rights-of-way, drainages and nearby San Luis Obispo Creek due to runoff from the fire.

Following that, Ferris submitted plans to reconstruct a portion of the warehouse, and the city hired a consultant to determine the need for redevelopment and/or demolition of the properties.

“Since this time, significant progress has been made in determining the appropriate process for evaluating the project, consistent with both building code and zoning regulation requirements,” the memo reads. “Although an approach and associated details have not been finalized, a combination of reconstruction and demolition is likely warranted to address the current situation.”

Codron wrote that specific time frames for reconstruction and demolition are driven by the property owner, who is “engaged and actively working to resolve the situation.”

Codron said Thursday that the first phase remodeling the warehouse includes weather-proofing and installing fire sprinklers. The city is currently reviewing those plans, he said.

According to The Sub’s Facebook page, the author plans to film a documentary about “the travesty that was done to (them).”

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 7:13 PM with the headline "One year later, we don’t know why The Sub burned down or what its future holds."