Panel Calls for Increase in Horse Center’s Rent

Los Angeles park authorities, apparently reacting to criticism from the City Council, decided Monday to ask for a taste of the tuition charged by a school for chefs that is soon to open at the city-owned equestrian center in Griffith Park.

The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners voted 4 to 0 to seek a rent increase from Los Angeles Equestrian Center Inc., which has had exclusive rights to operate the equestrian center since May, 1990. The action followed criticism from City Council members that the commission failed to obtain acceptable financial terms from the corporation.

The amount of the additional rent for the cooking school will be negotiated.

Councilman Joel Wachs has complained that the commission recently erred on the side of leniency in agreeing to allow LAEC to pay a flat rental fee over the next five years, instead of payments based on a percentage of the firm’s gross receipts.

The city’s budget office has estimated that a flat fee would cost the city nearly $1.7 million in lost revenues, although that figure is disputed by city parks department staff members, who have generally agreed with the corporation’s contention that it will be years before a profit is made.

Recently, Wachs was also upset to learn that the commission’s negotiators were unaware of the profits LAEC would earn from the cooking school.

Discovery of the school plans fueled Wachs’ concern that LAEC would find other profitable ventures to house at the center but only after it locked the city into a flat-rate rent agreement.

Wachs is chairman of the Arts, Health and Humanities Committee, which will have a big say in whether the full council ratifies a new rental agreement with the corporation.

With Wachs’ complaints hanging over their deliberations, board members agreed Monday to seek a two-tiered rental agreement with LAEC, said Senior Assistant City Atty. Pete Echeverria, the commission’s legal adviser.

The first part, based on the agreement that the commission has already negotiated with LAEC, calls for a total rent over five years of $350,000. In subsequent years, the corporation would pay 4% of its income, made by leasing stables to horse owners, charging admission to special equestrian events, renting horses to the public and providing riding lessons.

The second part would apply to rent paid by the Los Angeles International Culinary Institute, a sub-tenant of LAEC.

The institute is proposing to operate a snack bar and a first-class restaurant at the equestrian center, where training is to be given in restaurant cooking and management. Students are to pay $13,500 to participate in the 18-month program.

Representatives of LAEC and the culinary institute voiced no objections to the commission’s decision. Wachs’ office could not be reached for comment.