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BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Managing Editor
The owner of the old Stanford Terrace Inn is asking a judge to overturn the Palo Alto City Council’s order to demolish the building that’s been determined a fire risk, saying it’s in retaliation for not selling the hotel to the city five years ago.
Owner Sophia Huang claims in the lawsuit, filed in federal court on Thursday, that the city has had its eye on the block-long buildings at 531 Stanford Ave. since 2021, when officials asked if the owners would be willing to sell the building to the city to use as a hotel for the homeless.
Huang turned the city down and it led to a series of increasingly hostile encounters with the city, including planning officials allegedly refusing to review plans to redevelop the hotel, once used as extended-stay housing, the lawsuit states.
This ultimately led to a March 21, 2024, notice of violation from the city stating that the property, which was being rented out to Stanford graduate students, was unsafe for habitation.
Emergency exits were blocked, ceilings were lined with plastic film, electrical wiring was corroded and a balcony was at risk of collapse, according to the notice from the city.
The city made all of the tenants move out, and Huang had to pay relocation assistance equaling two months of rent. Huang says the notice of violation was “sudden” after years of communicating with the city about the property. She claims the red-tagging of her building appears to be in retaliation for not selling the property so it could be used as a homeless hotel.
This led to Chief Building Official George Hoyt issuing a demolition order on Oct. 17. Huang appealed Hoyt’s decision, which led to the council unanimously voting on April 20 that Huang has until Oct. 20 to raze the buildings. Through her lawsuit, Huang is hoping to halt the demolition order.
The city also demanded for the ability to use the property for a training site for firefighters, according to the lawsuit.
Huang also claims, via her attorney Brian O’Neill, that she has been discriminated against because she is Asian American. The lawsuit states that an unnamed building official said that because Huang is Asian, she is paranoid when dealing with the city and incapable of following city law.
The same unnamed building official also said Asian Americans are always looking for “cheap ways to solve serious problems,” according to the lawsuit.
Huang says she has spent over $1 million to combat the city’s retaliation campaign and refusal to let her redevelop the property.
As for the city, officials previously told the Post that it began looking into the inn in September 2023 after firefighters responded to a medical call and saw corroded sprinklers and broken alarms.
“The property continues to pose threats to public health and safety, including the risk of partial structural collapse, unabated fire hazards, unauthorized occupancy risk, and environmental hazards. Demolition is required to protect public safety. The city will vigorously defend against the claims asserted by the property owner and will take all necessary steps to eliminate the dangerous conditions on the property,” city spokeswoman Meghan Horrigan-Taylor said in an email to the Post.
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