100 Tenants to Buy 81-Year Leases at City Club
About 100 Marina City Club tenants have agreed to buy 81-year leases on apartments in the club’s 600-unit complex, and the remaining leases will be offered to the public starting this weekend, according to developer Jerome H. Snyder.
Under a controversial plan approved in October by the county Board of Supervisors, the J. H. Snyder Co. is authorized to sell long-term transferable leases at prices for the full 81 years ranging from $85,000 for a single apartment to $725,000 for a four-bedroom penthouse. Monthly rentals now range from $995 to $4,900.
‘Playground for Rich’
The Marina City Club Residents Assn. unsuccessfully fought the plan in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. Tenants claimed the sale of leases would limit public access to the county-owned marina and convert it to “a playground for the rich.” They said in the suit that they had not received adequate notice to prepare their opposition.
But Judge Warren Deering in December ruled that tenants were given proper notice. He said tenants have “no protectable property right” to remain at Marina City Club.
The Board of Supervisors approved the plan because it would raise revenues estimated at $1.4 billion over the 81-year life of the leases. Those funds would benefit residents countywide, officials said, while short-term rentals only benefit a relatively small number of renters.
About 50 tenants have given notice that they intend to move out, Snyder said.
First Priority
Tenants at Marina City Club were given first priority on the leases, and had until last Sunday to submit a $5,000 deposit to reserve an apartment. About 60 tenants want to keep their present apartments, while the other buyers wish to move to other units, Snyder said.
He said that response to the 81-year-lease offer has been “outstanding.” About half of the complex’s 42 penthouses have been reserved, he said, and the rest of the offers from current tenants are spread among other units, he said. Snyder said he expects the penthouses will be sold out within a few weeks.
Tenants who agreed to buy by Jan. 25 received a discount of $15 a square foot on their leases, or $25,500 on a 1,700-square-foot unit, Snyder said.
Many tenants waited until just before the Jan. 25 deadline to make their decisions, he said.
Now that the tenant deadline has passed, the leases are available to the public. Letters have been mailed to about 300 prospective buyers who put their names on a waiting list, Snyder said.
Tenants who do not want to buy will be allowed to rent their apartments until a buyer is found, he said.
Renovation is under way on 170 units that are vacant, including 70 used as hotel rooms under the former management, Marina del Rey Properties Ltd., before Snyder took over in December.
