Laguna Terrace reportedly in escrow
The Laguna Terrace Park is in escrow, according to the mobile home community’s association president.
Gary Skeen, who leads the Laguna Terrace Park Assn., confirmed that detail in a phone interview, but said he did not know the buyer. Skeen said he let park residents know of the pending sale in an email on Feb. 13.
Vince Reynolds, a broker with real estate company CBRE, which is handling the transaction, said he needs permission from the seller and the buyer before providing the name of the buyer.
Calls to the seller’s law firm, Hart, King and Coldren, were not returned.
Residents of the park, which has 158 home sites covering 20 acres of a 270-acre parcel, tried to buy the property for $52.5 million, but the bid was rejected last year, Skeen said. The land is owned by Amy Esslinger, widow of the late Steve Esslinger, who died last year.
Steve Esslinger intended to convert the land to resident ownership when he approached the city in 2010 with an application to subdivide the property, according to a November 2012 Coastline Pilot story.
City officials in 2010 approved a vesting tentative tract map that they thought was not appealable to the California Coastal Commission. This type of tract map is completed to show the design and improvement of the proposed subdivision in relationship to the existing conditions and adjacent properties. The commission determined it did have jurisdiction. Laguna Terrace Park LLC took the matter to court, but lost in a July 2011 ruling, according to Coastline Pilot archives.
Steve Esslinger bought the mobile home park from his family trust in 1997, two years after the park was split from the rest of the property owned by the trust.
Terri Flint has lived in Laguna Terrace, located along Coast Highway, for 17 years.
“Everyone here loves it here,” Flint said.
Twitter: @AldertonBryce