City Buys Community Center Again
by Dean Gray
August 27, 2008



Desert Hot Springs, CA - A community that has long gone without a desperately needed community center will have one. It will take some work but with sweat and additional money from the city, soon there will be a playhouse and community center for the city at long last.

By all accounts it is an old building. The building’s air conditioning needs replacement. City staff found some leaks in the roof that will need to be repaired. To make it accessible to those with disabilities, it will need new bathrooms and ramps installed.

On the first walk-through, numerous violations were discovered, including a door without panic-bars and illegally chained shut. That is all about to change and soon the city will be breathing new life into this solid old building of concrete block.

The transformation is welcomed by the locals who want to see a community theatre with additional recreation and social programs, and meeting rooms

The city purchased the building for $1.4 million dollars a two months ago. Estimates to bring the structure up to code to meet minimal standards are not known, according to the director of the redevelopment agency Rudy Acosta.

Some still quibble that the purchase price was too high but the owner of the Jewish Center, Barack Hasham, says he turned down an offer of $2.3 million because he wanted to sell it to the city instead of to a convict rehabilitation organization.

Hasham says he feels positive about the city, having seen many local children grow up in the school housed at the Jewish center.

“Selling to the city gives him such a positive feeling knowing what the sale will mean. A  building will remain a place for the community he deeply loves,” the rabbi said.

There is a small detail that will need to be worked out on the sale, and the RDA is scheduled to take that up on their next meeting.

When the RDA first voted to purchase the building (on a four-to-one vote with Betts voting no), the purchase agreement was between the agency and Hasham, as an individual. Shortly after the sale was approved, Hasham found out that he would be paying a lot of capital gains taxes if he sold the building as an individual..

Therefore, the papers were re-drawn and the matter returned to the RDA to re-vote to purchase the facility from Hasham's non-profit Jewish temple organization instead, saving Hasham the IRS capital gains tax burden.

• 1 - City Buys Community Center Again
  By - Dean Gray   2008-08-27
  Desert Hot Springs, CA - A community that has long gone without a desperately needed community center will have one. It will take some...
• 2 - Money Machine Intrigue
  By - Dean Gray   2009-04-30
  The unusual story of how the sale of the Desert Hot Springs Jewish Temple to the City for $1.4 million dollars made a millionaire of a...
• 3 - Temple Purchase Tribulations
  By - Dean Gray   2009-05-06
  The continuing saga of how Pastor Steven Mesarch became Rabbi Alon Barak and how he educated Councilman Scott Matas and made over a...
• 4 - Temple Demolition Proposed
  By - Dean Gray   2009-05-12
  After over a year of delay the city receives the report from the stuctural engineer. The conclusion? The building purchased for top dollar...
• 5 - Another “Ooopsie” For City
  By - staff   2009-06-26
  Our continuing investigation of the Jewish Temple purchase reveals more interesting details. What did the city know about the structure?...
• 6 - County May Shift Health Clinic Location
  By - Dean Gray   2009-07-13
  Will Desert Hot Springs squeeze an alternative use for the controversial Jewish Temple to transform it into a county health clinic? Did...