Council Panel Rejects Plan for Horse ‘Condos’

A City Council committee turned hoofs down Wednesday on plans by the financially troubled Los Angeles Equestrian Center to convert rented stalls into horse “condominiums” and open a medieval-theme restaurant where diners could watch jousting matches.

The Los Angeles Board of Referred Powers said it wanted instead to meet with operators of the center, its creditors and city officials to consider alternative ways to bail out the 70-acre, city-owned facility, which is about $27 million in debt.

The stall conversion and restaurant proposals, part of a plan for bankruptcy reorganization, were sharply criticized by horse boarders and users of the center.

“I am not prepared to support this plan at this time,” said the board’s chairman, Councilman Hal Bernson. Despite his sympathy for center officials and creditors, Bernson said, “my No. 1 responsibility is to protect those stalls for public use.”

Committed to Staying Open

Bernson told the city’s recreation and parks general manager, James E. Hadaway, to “have someone prepared to step in and operate that facility” in case agreement is not reached on an alternative. Board members said they are committed to keeping the center open and assuring boarders that their horses will not be displaced.

Most of the five-member board expressed reservations about the plan during a stormy two-hour session attended by more than 50 boarders and riders.

Boarders feared that they would be forced from the center or that their horses would be confined to less-desirable locations if they refused to buy the stalls for $30,000 apiece. And they opposed the Medieval Times restaurant on the grounds that it would not be equestrian-related and would rob them of riding space.

Plans Revised

J. Albert Garcia, president of Equestrian Centers of America, which operates the center, had eliminated a proposal for a lodge and reduced the restaurant’s projected area to 3 acres. But that did not satisfy the board members.

“We should get involved in a plan that is profit-making and horse-related,” said Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores.

Bernson said: “I don’t like to see anyone lose their investment, but it’s also not our obligation to bail out anybody with taxpayers’ money.”

Garcia had said that, without approval of his plan, Gibraltar Savings of Beverly Hills, which lent his company $18 million, will foreclose April 8.

Under the city’s contract with Garcia, Gibraltar then would be obligated to operate the center.

“Unless we come to some sort of agreement, everyone loses,” Bernson said, adding that Gibraltar would not want to operate a business that was losing money.

$12.3-Million Loan

Under the proposed reorganization plan, a Los Angeles-based financing firm, Trafalgar Holdings Ltd., would have lent the center $12.3 million. About $9 million of that would have paid an existing debt to Gibraltar.

Board members said alternatives could include building more stalls that could be used for “condos.” Also, they said, they want to determine what liability the city will have if stalls are sold on parkland and the center goes bankrupt.

The board considers matters when a conflict of interest may exist involving the city. The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners, which normally would handle the matter, has a conflict of interest because one of its members is an attorney for an equestrian-center creditor.