The building at the northeast corner of 11th Street and Holly Drive has sat vacant for four months after the city ordered its occupants to correct code violations or move out.

Tracy building inspector Jim Decker said the Tracy Mini Mall was plagued with code violations ever since it opened in the summer of 2006. Decker said the problems were not so much with the building but with the improvements tenants made as a series of small shops opened inside the building.

But building owner Louis Levand said the city exaggerated problems in the building

"I never had any trouble in the past," Levand said.

He said the city discouraged the entrepreneurs who set up shop in the building, which previously had been the home of a furniture store, a carpet company and a paint store.

"They gave them the OK to open up, then they gave them business licenses to open in the building, then all of a sudden they closed them down. That doesn’t sound right to me."

The city issued business licenses for 17 separate shops in the building, including retailers who sold shoes and boots, clothing for adults and children, cosmetics, artwork and toys. It also had a couple of jewelry repair businesses.

Decker said the city gave the mini mall an occupancy permit last July even though it did not comply with disabled access laws and had lingering building and electrical code problems.

"We worked with them until October to get the building open, with the understanding that they needed to correct the nonlife-threatening issues," Decker said. "That never happened."

Decker said he returned in January to see if the problems were corrected and found the businesses building interior walls and ceilings even though they had not taken out permits for tenant improvements.

By February, the city issued an order to correct the violations and issued a notice to vacate on April 11.

Levand said he expects he will lease the building out again, possibly to someone who checked out the building Wednesday.

"I’ve got a few people looking and haven’t even put a sign out yet," he said.