GARDEN GROVE – The City Council once again on Tuesday night extended a long-standing demolition order on the so-called “rusty skeleton,” a 90-foot-tall steel structure that can been seen from the 22 freeway and has been untouched since 2009.

The council will consider enforcing the demolition order at the end of May.

“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’ ” said Mayor Bao Nguyen shortly before a contentious 3-2 vote, referring to the Bill Murray film in which events repeat over and over.

The city has had a demolition order since 2013. Many in the community view the structure as an eyesore and have been frustrated by the lack of progress in developing it.

But after years and millions of dollars of investment by several private companies and the city, the council has been hesitant to enforce the demolition order, hoping to avoid tearing down the structure – which has had many projects attached to it, the most recent of which is the Lotus Plaza mixed-use development.

Still, negotiations among the lender for the project, the developer and the property owner have stalled over the past couple of months.

Cathay Bank, the money lender, and developer Brooks Street say they want a mixed-use development to rise up on Garden Grove Boulevard and Brookhurst Street. But the Hoag Foundation, the property owner and a nonprofit supporting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Garden Grove, says it wants to pull out of the project and demolish the structure.

The council discussed whether to execute the demolition order in November, but asked William Grant, the president of the Hoag Foundation board of directors, to go back to his board and have it reconsider pulling out.

But in a letter dated Dec. 3, Grant said the board members “unanimously” decided it is through with negotiating.

Still, Councilman Steve Jones said he didn’t want the structure to become a “dead-weight loss” by demolishing it. He also wants to see if a lawsuit between Cathay and Hoag over control of the property, which may go before the California Supreme Court, resolves anything without forcing the city to get involved in what he described as a private-party dispute.

“Let it play out,” Jones said.

Nguyen, who along with Councilman Chris Phan wanted to execute the demolition order, was visibly upset as Jones cast the third vote in favor of continuing the item to May.

“I don’t know what you have in mind,” Nguyen said to Jones. “We have a responsibility to our community. They elected us to make difficult calls.”

Contact the writer: 714-704-3707 or chaire@ocregister.com