Sale of Lido Marina Village almost final

Noaki Schwartz

BALBOA PENINSULA -- The financial firm involved in a failed attempt to

purchase Lido Marina Village -- the property that proved to be former

City Manager Kevin Murphy’s Waterloo -- is now reportedly close to buying

the rundown shopping center again.

Very few details about the new deal have been released, and city

officials -- with the exception of one council member -- say they know

almost nothing about it.

Lehman Brothers Holdings, the New York-based financial firm that was in

escrow to buy the 4-acre site in 1998, has bought portions of the

property and is under contract to purchase the remainder, said Tony

Wattson, president of Wattson Breevast, a local developer working on the

deal with Lehman Brothers.

Property owner Jerry Friedman did not return phone calls. Lehman Brothers

representatives declined to comment on the deal.

In June 1998, Lehman Brothers, along with Pasadena-based Ratkovich &

Associates, had a contract with the village’s property owners, but

withdrew at the last minute.

Calling itself LJR Lido Partnerships, the group issued a cancellation

notice after the City Council rejected a proposed 50-year lease of the

boat slips adjacent to Lido Marina Village.

LJR Lido Partnerships had said it needed the long-term lease in order to

close the deal. However, at least four council members at the time did

not want to write the tidelands lease until they were presented with a

plan to renovate the property and gather more information about the value

of the boat slips.

At the time, James Ratkovich, a partner in the group, said he wanted to

work with the community before proposing a detailed plan. But that was

not solid enough for council members and they rejected the proposed

lease, causing LJR Lido Partnerships to finally withdraw from the deal.

Although many believe Murphy’s forced resignation was simply the result

of politics and his disintegrating relationship with a majority on the

council, the Lido Marina Village deal became the public reason behind his

departure.

Some alleged Murphy tweaked the appraisal of the boat slips to make the

deal work, but no evidence of that was ever produced. In fact, Murphy and

other staff members maintained he was barely involved with the appraisal.

This time around, whether the tired Lido MarinaVillage will finally get

the financial injection it so desperately needs remains to be seen.

“The escrow is not closed and they haven’t finalized the purchase,”

Wattson said.

He would not comment on whether Lehman Brothers could still withdraw from

the deal or was still interested in obtaining a 50-year lease on the boat

slips before closing the purchase.

Councilman Tod Ridgeway said for the moment, the property will continue

to be on an annual renewable permit.

“They haven’t brought in a project yet,” he said. “The city will evaluate

the totality of the circumstances -- [that is] how does it address

long-term city needs, Coastal Commission, public access needs. There are

so many issues to evaluate.”