The building at 701 Fifth Avenue has been a lot of things. A 15-screen multiplex. A luxury dine-in cinema. A nightclub complex. A crime scene. And for the better part of the last three years, a 73,000-square-foot question mark sitting on one of the best corners in the Gaslamp.
Now it’s getting another shot. On February 19, a liquor license transfer was filed with California ABC, moving control from the entity tied to the revoked license back to Elie Samaha and Freddy Braidi. The plan: five concepts under one roof. A Middle Eastern restaurant from a Top Chef winner. The return of Sugar Factory. A steakhouse, a rooftop lounge, and a spa.
It’s ambitious. And if even half of it works, it could be exactly what this stretch of Fifth Avenue needs.
The Building’s History (The Short Version)
The building opened as Pacific Gaslamp 15 in 1997, a 2,900-seat movie house built by OliverMcMillan for roughly $15 million. Reading International picked it up in 2007 as part of a $72 million multi-location deal and ran it as Reading Cinemas Gaslamp 15 until January 2016, when it went dark.
In December 2018, Samaha reopened it as Theatre Box, a luxury cinema concept scaled down to 8 screens and 815 seats, with Sugar Factory, Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out bar, and Villa One Tequila Garden (a Nick Jonas venture) sharing the space. The cinema lasted less than five years. By January 2023, it was all shut down.
Then came the Mr. Tempo chapter. Multiple nightlife concepts operating under a single Type 47 liquor license at the address. A fatal shooting on the premises in August 2025. An ABC license revocation in October. 132 fire and rescue responses to the building between 2020 and 2025. Health department closures for vermin violations in four separate months of 2025 alone.
It’s a rough resume. No point pretending otherwise.
What’s Different This Time
The honest answer: the principals are the same, but the playbook looks different.
Samaha’s entity acquired the building outright from OliverMcMillan in August 2023 and secured a $22 million loan the following month. That’s not a lease play hoping for the best. That’s ownership with real capital deployed.
The most interesting name on the new roster is Charbel Hayek. He’s a 26-year-old Lebanese-born chef who trained at Melisse in LA under Josiah Citrin, won Top Chef: Middle East, competed on Top Chef: World All-Stars, and opened Ladyhawk in Los Angeles (which LA Magazine named its #1 new restaurant). His concept Laya launched in Hollywood in mid-2024 and has been pulling serious attention. If the San Diego outpost happens, it would bring a genuinely credentialed operator into the building for the first time.
Freddy Braidi’s Boulevard Hospitality Group runs Yamashiro in Hollywood and has been expanding it to Miami and Connecticut. Sugar Factory, love it or not, has brand recognition and a proven model in tourist-heavy corridors. The LKSD steakhouse concept currently operates in Downey.
Is it guaranteed? Of course not. But the talent pipeline is stronger than anything this building has had since it opened.
The License Question
Here’s the part that matters most from a deal perspective. The ABC didn’t just suspend the license at 701 Fifth. They revoked it, with a 180-day window to transfer. That transfer filing went in on February 19, moving from the old entity to a new one with Samaha and Braidi as members.
Both the old and new licenses remain pending and suspended as of this writing. No alcohol service is currently allowed in the building. For a 73,000-square-foot hospitality complex, that’s not a minor detail. It’s the whole ballgame.
The transfer process takes time. ABC reviews the new applicants, evaluates the operational plan, and decides whether to approve. Given the building’s history, expect scrutiny. But a clean transfer to a new entity with a credible operating plan is exactly the mechanism ABC provides for situations like this. The system is working the way it’s designed to work.
What a Broker Sees
I look at 701 Fifth and see three things.
First, the location is still elite. Corner of Fifth and G in the Gaslamp, spanning through to Sixth Avenue. You can’t build that. The address isn’t the problem. It’s never been the problem.
Second, scale is the challenge and the opportunity. Most restaurant operators think in terms of 3,000 to 5,000 square feet. This building has 73,000. That means you need either one massive concept with incredible draw, or multiple concepts that complement each other without cannibalizing traffic. Five concepts is the right structural approach. Whether these five specific concepts are the right mix is the question.
Third, the litigation overhang is real. A wrongful death suit from the August 2025 shooting. A fraud lawsuit from Jorge Cueva (the Mr. Tempo operator) against the ownership group. A premises liability case. These don’t necessarily stop a relaunch, but they add cost, complexity, and distraction at exactly the moment when operational focus matters most.
The Gaslamp Needs This to Work
Here’s what doesn’t get said enough: the Gaslamp Quarter benefits from having a thriving anchor at this address. A dark 73,000-square-foot building on Fifth Avenue isn’t just a problem for the owner. It’s dead foot traffic for every restaurant and bar on the block.
If Hayek brings Laya to San Diego and it hits the way Ladyhawk hit in LA, that alone changes the energy around this corner. A Top Chef winner operating in the Gaslamp would be a first. Paired with the right supporting concepts, you could see this building finally reach the potential that’s been sitting there since 1997.
The bet is big. The history is complicated. But someone is putting real money and real operators behind a building that the Gaslamp can’t afford to leave dark. In this market, that counts for something.
Businesses Mentioned