Two properties on Arkansas owned by the Grothus Living Trust have been cited by Los County officials under Chapter 18, Environment, of the Los Alamos County Municipal Code.

The Black Hole and the former Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church were owned by the late Ed Grothus. The properties are being targeted for their serious state of disrepair.

Grothus purchased the church in 1973 and first called it the Omega Peace Institute but later renamed it the First Church of High Technology. In 1976, he purchased the Mesa Market next door and continued to run it as a grocery store for two years. His business, Los Alamos Sales Company, began moving things into the old store and it eventually became known as The Black Hole, because it was said that everything went into the building but nothing came out.

When Grothus died in 2009, his family gradually began moving thousands of items off the property but little or nothing appears to have been done to repair or maintain the structures. The apparently unsafe conditions at both the former church and the Black Hole have prompted the County to issue multiple citations.

The citations are for failure to repair and maintain structural walls, roofs, overhangs, skylights, windows, doors and surfaces of structures on the two adjacent properties. The Black Hole also has been asked to remove accessory structures on the property.

In recent years the two properties have been plagued by a series of trespassing and break-in incidents, particularly by juveniles, according to police reports.

The former Grace Lutheran Church on Arkansas Street has fallen into disrepair and the Grothus Family Trust, which owns the property has been cited by Los Alamos County. Photo by Maire O’Neill/ladailyposttest.ortizaudio.net