Long Point Project Goes Into Bankruptcy : Rancho Palos Verdes: A developer who planned a resort on the former Marineland site seeks court protection to avert a foreclosure sale.

Phoenix developer James A. Monaghan put his Long Point resort hotel project in Rancho Palos Verdes into bankruptcy protection Thursday rather than face a foreclosure sale by the federal Resolution Trust Corp.

Monaghan had defaulted on a $24-million note held by a failed New Orleans savings and loan that was taken over by the RTC. The property was to be sold at a foreclosure auction in Los Angeles by the RTC today. The bankruptcy court action is expected to block the sale, at least temporarily.

“We had no choice but to protect our interests through a Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) reorganization,” said Monaghan, president of Rancho Palos Verdes Resort Inc., the company created to develop the property.

The company filed for bankruptcy in Phoenix late Thursday, after RTC officials refused to give the developer more time to come up with a buyer for the ill-fated project, which called for construction of a 450-bed hotel and a golf course.

The RTC had postponed the foreclosure sale in October, giving Monaghan until Dec. 15 to come up with new financing or a buyer to pay off the $24-million delinquent note, plus $4 million in interest and penalties. The RTC was established by the federal government to liquidate failed savings and loans.

Monaghan put the property up for bid privately and said Thursday that he had received several offers by this week’s deadline. However, he said he needed more time to negotiate the best deal, a request the RTC rejected.

RTC spokeswoman Felisa Neuringer said Monaghan had “failed to submit a reasonable offer” Thursday to settle the debt. The agency ordered the government’s auctioneers to start the foreclosure sale at 10 a.m. on the steps of the Los Angeles County Courthouse.

“The RTC was unwilling to deal with us . . . so we had no other choice but to file for bankruptcy,” Monaghan said. He had asked for another 30 days to put the deal together, a request that was rejected. The bankruptcy will give him time to reorganize and sell the property, he contended.

Monaghan bought the 105-acre Marineland parcel and another 315 acres elsewhere in the city in 1987, financed by Oak Tree Federal Bank of New Orleans. The $28-million debt covers both properties. The hotel and golf course project had been approved by the city and the state Coastal Commission. When completed, it was expected to return about $2 million in annual tax revenues to the city.