Warehouse owner hands down evictions to Oakland Salt Lick warehouse tenants

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- People living inside an Oakland arts warehouse that came onto the city's radar after the deadlyGhost Ship fire are now being evicted.

RELATED: Artists fear eviction after Ghost Ship fire

The Salt Lick warehouse is on 2nd Street and Broadway near Jack London Square. The city is still hoping to reach a solution to allow residents to stay.

Three remaining residents living inside the Salt Lick warehouse could soon be moving out. No one wanted to talk about the evictions Thursday, which the city says were handed down from the warehouse owner.

In February, the city identified the Salt Lick as one of a dozen properties in Oakland possibly unsafe for living. The second-floor fire escape only reached to the end of the roof.

The city says the Salt Lick has not been red-tagged, and is willing to work with the landlord to make it safe to occupy, but that hasn't happened."

"We stand ready to work with the landlord to make sure tenants can remain," said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. "And remain under safe conditions."

RELATED: Oakland restaurant owner and artists clash over code enforcement

The scrutiny follows the tragic Ghost Ship warehouse fire in 2016, which killed 36 people.

After the fire, Everett and Jones Bar-B-Que owner Dorothy King held a news conference to say the Salt Lick, just next door, was another disaster in the making. She was confronted by a tenant, "You are hurting us," he said. "This is hurting us.

Lisa Drostova works at Ragged Wing Theater Ensemble housed inside the Flight Deck a performance space. "I know artists who are leaving the Bay Area," she said.

Drostova says creative, affordable spaces for the arts community like Salt Lick are vanishing. "To see another art space go down -- that's always going to hit us right where we live."

RELATED: No explanation offered for delay in Ghost Ship fire report

ABC7 News reached out to the owner of the Salt Lick warehouse but did not receive a response.

Click here for full coverage on the deadly Ghost Ship Fire.