Bishop - What’s going on at Cottonwood Plaza?

One by one, businesses in the Cottonwood Plaza are clearing out.
As the government offices, eateries and gift shops relocate or close their doors for good, questions are arising as to the fate of the 30-plus-year-old commercial center in Bishop.
There are reports of rent as high $500 a day, confusing electrical bills and landlords that rarely communicate with tenants except to sue them.
Meanwhile, rumors abound that the site may be demolished to make room for another hotel or gas station, or there may be a complete renovation of the existing buildings.
However, lawsuits and confusing real estate law are complicating the details as to what the future holds for the Plaza and the businesses.

Denis Turner of Main Street Trading Post moves the last of the store’s inventory last week. The Trading Post moved after disagreements with their lease and new landlords could not be resolved. It is the fourth business to move out of the Cottonwood Plaza since leases came up in June. Photo by Mike Bodine

There are confirmed reports by occupants that have already left the Plaza that the lease on the property was up at the end of June, and so were most of the leases for the tenants in the two, two-story buildings.
On June 30, when the lease, actually a sub-lease, expired for the landlord at that time, Richard Maudsley, control of the buildings and property went back into the hands of Charles Caldwell, represented by Kearsarge Investments.
Kearsarge leased the land from a man named Crosby, and then Kearsarge sub-leased to Maudsley. When Maudsley’s lease ran out, Kearsarge regained control. It was at this time that Kearsarge filed suits of “unlawful detainer,” or eviction action, against the remaining tenants. Included in the suit is Maudsley, named as Bishop Plaza, LLC, according to Maudsley’s legal counsel, Tom Hardy, on Monday, Sept. 22.
Caldwell said Friday afternoon, Sept. 18, that his interests are with the Burger King property only and that Maudsley held interest in the other two buildings. Caldwell was unavailable for further comments at the time of this article.
At the end of June, those businesses still in the Plaza were not given extensions, or given any date when they should leave, or if they even had to.
Lyn Reding and Denis Turner of Main Street Trading Post said they were given a new lease agreement in June, but the new lease called for new restrictive modifications, like where patrons could park and what hours of operation the tenants should adhere to or face a fine.
Reding and Turner said that, with the scarcity of affordable office space in Bishop, they did not want to relocate and sent back a revised lease of what they were willing to modify, which they say the landlord verbally agreed to. Then the Trading Post was sent another letter from Kearsarge saying that all the former agreements were no good and the landlords had “decided to move in another direction.” The Trading Post’s response was to relocate.
Lyons Jewelry reported being given the same lease, but they decided to move before they could see the new revised lease.
Reding and Turner said that according to one of the leases, the rent, starting July 1, would be $491.57 a day, or more than $14,000 a month. They said that they have opened a separate savings account to cover back rent if they are ever held accountable.
It was also reported that when the remaining tenants are asked to leave they will then receive one bill for the cumulative rent since June.
Only three businesses remain in the two office and retail buildings on the North Main Street property: Subway, Hing’s Donuts and the Imperial Gourmet restaurant. Burger King is on a separate lot.
A little more than a year ago, there were at least nine businesses in Cottonwood Plaza, not counting Burger King, in addition to several county offices.
The extent of the exodus was evident this past Saturday, when the Main Street Trading Company was in the process of moving into their new location, the former home of Jeanette’s Unique Boutique on North Main Street. Devon’s Flower Patch has relocated next to Nik-N-Willie’s Pizza on West Line Street and recently celebrated their re-opening. Lyon’s Limited Custom Jewelers moved into the old Inyo Country Store location, catty-corner from the library, and has been there since their lease at the Cottonwood Plaza ended in June.
But the Plaza has a long history of vacancies.
The first floor of the west building was once the site Thrifty Drug Store but has remained mostly vacant with boarded windows since 1999. (Dwayne Wilson of Dwayne’s Friendly Pharmacy was the pharmacist there, and also the business partner of Mert Wiedmann and Leland Bell of Shafter, Calif., who built Cottonwood Plaza in 1978.)
The upstairs space from the vacant Thrifty site will be empty soon, as well. Imperial Gourmet, one of the first tenants of the Plaza not long after it replaced an old A&W Root Beer restaurant at the southwest corner of North Main and Yaney streets, will be moving into the Western Kitchen location next to Taco Bell by Dec. 31 of this year, whether the remodeling to the new location is finished or not.
Imperial Gourmet’s manager said their lease is up at the end of December and the current landlord will not give the owners any extensions.
Imperial Gourmet said that despite their rushed exit, they’re excited about a new Main Street locale with easier access.
The elevator has actually been an inconvenience for the only Chinese restaurant in Bishop. Evidently, with no playground or other facility for kids to play on, the kids ride the elevator for fun. More and more frequently the elevator is out-of-order because of over- or mis-use and Imperial Gourmet reports a loss of business because of it. Their new location will be about half the size, but the restaurant staff will be able to access electrical and fuse boxes, something the restaurant reports the current owner of the Plaza prevents them from doing by padlocking the boxes.
Other, strange electric problems have plagued the Plaza. Lyn Reding and Denis Turner of the Trading Post said that after Lyons and Devons moved out, the electric bill of their neighbor, Subway, decreased by $400 a month. Subway refused to comment on the situation.
Reding and Turner explained the complicated electrical situation in that when the Bureau of Land Management occupied both first and second floor spaces, a single box and meter was placed upstairs. When BLM left to its new building on West Line Street, the upstairs electrical junctions served the new individual spaces downstairs, so only a few business had an individual meter.
Devon Scott, owner of Devon’s Flower Patch, said for the first three of the eight years she was in the Plaza, she didn’t even get an electrical bill as the landlord at that time Maudsley, was unaware that there were no individual meters. Scott said the landlord later tried to sue her for three years estimated back electrical bills, but settled out of court.
Plumbing is reportedly also a problem, but few details were made available.
A lack of details seems to sum up the situation at the Cottonwood Plaza. Current legal proceedings prevented many tenants from speaking directly on the leases or their future plans.
Bishop Planning Department Public Service Officer Gary Schley said he has not had ample communication with the landlords/owners, and current litigation prevents him from delving into details or commenting on what is happing with the property.
Rumors abound that the buildings may be refurbished, “brought to code” and resold or rented, or the entire complex will be leveled to make way for a new hotel or gas station.
Sharon Rock of Lyons Jewelry said that Kearsarge Investments had told her that the rumors of a new hotel being built at the Plaza are just that, rumors.
Devon Scott said it is sad to see yet another large empty building gracing Bishop’s Main Street, as well as the loss of the only ice cream store and soon the only donut shop in town.
One Plaza patron commented that it is not a good idea to keep things secret in a small town as it just makes suspicion grow even more out of proportion.
It is also reported that the maintenance and groundskeeper is going to quit soon because of not being paid – enough or on time. This means that the empty buildings could soon be taken over by overgrown bushes, brown grass and trash.