"But when the buyer turned out to be a developer, and when that developer floated a proposal to raze the building and replace it with a trio of small homes, the neighborhood erupted in protest."
They should be building a 3 story, 10 unit apartment on that lot. Building just 3 homes in the middle of a severe shortage of homes won't do shit.
If California looks anything like South Florida where 2 out of five businesses have been vacant for 5 years or more. I think there's 100,000's of units in South Florida alone just by rezoning commercial land usage. Do we need a vacant building that used to be a Dentist office in a Strip mall with a Circle K on every corner?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/business/economy/single-family-home.html