San Diego city leaders are hoping to turn the page on the long saga of 101 Ash St. The building downtown was never used to house city workers as planned and has now sat empty for eight years.

It's closer to becoming a mixed-use building after the city council last week approved a plan to turn the high-rise into 247 affordable housing units, retail space and a childcare center.

The vacant 21-story building has a history that includes the discovery of asbestos in the building and multiple hurdles with building inspections. The development team of cREate Development and MRK Partners are confident they can clear the building of asbestos.

“The abatement timeline is six months. That's how long it will take to abate all of the floors in the building,” said Kelly Moden, president of cREate Deve

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