Galleria Bid by Schmedding Runs Into Snag : Offers Turned Down; Foreclosure Sale Likely

A deal for a former San Diego Chargers football player to buy developer Ray Jessen’s financially troubled Old Town Galleria shopping center appears to have stalled and the scheduled Oct. 1 foreclosure sale of the facility now seems likely.

Jim Schmedding, president of Templar Investment Group, a Solana Beach-based real estate management and syndication firm, confirmed Tuesday that his offers to buy the 47,500-square-foot Old Town Galleria have been turned down. The offers have been rejected both by Jessen and by San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, which is owed nearly $6 million in principal and interest it loaned to the center’s developers.

“We’re prepared to discuss it further and we’re anxious to,” said Schmedding, who played center and guard for the Chargers from 1968 to 1971.

Carl Bettis, Jessen’s assistant, described Schmedding’s offer as “unacceptable.” Jessen’s asking price is $8.3 million.

Schmedding’s indentity had not been disclosed before Tuesday. But with time running out before Monday’s foreclosure sale by the bank, Schmedding issued a statement Tuesday saying that his firm was the “previously unidentified investor.”

A partnership headed by Jessen has attempted to reorganize for the past two years under the protections of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But earlier this month, Jessen acknowledged that his reorganization had not worked and that the retail center would be sold at foreclosure if he couldn’t find a buyer.

Schmedding said his firm has developed a management plan for the “successful operation of the center.” His Solana Beach company is now buying $20 million worth of real estate investment property in San Diego County--most of it apartments and industrial projects, he said.