I was involved with the early development of the 37-acre MCC from late
1974 to 1979. At that time, I was reporting to the President of the MCC, Dick
Stevens (deceased). Stevens was also the President of the Balboa Bay Club (BBC)
in Newport Beach and was brought in to replicate the success of the BBC for the
owners, Marina del Rey Properties Ltd. and Hughes Aircraft. At the time of
my departure, MCC was a very successful (in the eyes of the public) private
club and luxury apartment community. That said, the developers were
disappointed by cash flows due to County restrictions that were pushing out
their Return on Investment (ROI). The effort to enhance the owner's
ROI drove many initiatives like securing a more attractive sublease for the 7
acre parcel occupied by the China Sails Restaurant and Dragonfly Disco.
By the mid-1980's, Dick Stevens had the Ritz-Carlton interested in the
China Sails 7-acre parcel that would require a renegotiation of the County Lease
to make that happen. The County Lease renegotiation also presented the owners
with an opportunity to cash out by performing a conversion of the
apartments to condominiums - enter JH Snyder. In July, 1986, the
Ritz-Carlton Hotel won approval and on November 6, 1986, JH Snyder made a
Net-Present Value (NPV) cash buyout of Marina City Properties Ltd. and Hughes
Aircraft.
The sales of the condominiums were handled by Ron Ryan:
This citation from a branding company describes the Towers at the time:
I watched the condominium conversion with keen interest and made some lowball offers in 1988-1989 while I lived in San Francisco. The condos seemed to be commanding premium prices at the time and may have been artificially fueled by developer-sponsored financing.
Three Omens:
The Marina del Rey took a triple hit in the 1990's. The first hit came in the late 1980's when Regan's tax reform took away many deductions that undergirded the boating and yachting industry as well as private clubs. Prior to tax reform, you could write off boats and club memberships for entertainment and even the interest on credit card debt.
Next, in 1989, the Los Angeles Times performed a detailed investigation into the Marina's largest leaseholder, Abe Lurie of Real Properties Management ("RPM"). Lurie, it was reported was delinquent on $1 million in County taxes and millions more on loans. It was earth shaking as Lurie had the leases for the four largest hotels (Ritz-Carlton not built in 1989). RPM finally went bankrupt and it caused dislocations all around the Marina.
By the end of the Cold War and Desert Storm in 1991, the Aerospace Industry suffered a steep decline that flattened the real estate market from 1991 to 1995. 1994 was when I nibbled on the crop of foreclosures in the MCC - mostly the people that bought in 1987-1989 at the premiums discussed above.
Click on this book that goes into the corrupt politics at Marina
del Rey:
Last modified: 10/26/2020-10:26