Gibraltar Forecloses on Horse Center, Ousts Garcia
Gibraltar Savings of Beverly Hills foreclosed on the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on Friday, ousting its controversial director, J. Albert Garcia.
Gibraltar was the Griffith Park center’s largest creditor, having loaned it $18 million since 1982.
The takeover ended a turbulent month for the debt-plagued center, during which boarders and city officials opposed Garcia’s proposals to save the facility.
The 70-acre center, on city-owned property, will be operated by the Southern California Hotel Group, a management firm based in Los Angeles, said the group’s attorney Andrew B. Kaplan.
Gibraltar signed a 5-year contract with the company effective immediately, Kaplan said.
“It is our intent to continue operations without any interruption, but in a more businesslike manner than the prior owner apparently did,” Kaplan said.
The management company has “volunteered” to pay the wages of center employees, who have not been paid for 3 weeks by the former owner, Kaplan said.
Clifford J. Meyer, attorney for Gibraltar, said several accountants and business experts will study the center’s financial structure during the next few weeks.
Meyer said there would be no immediate changes in the center’s middle- or lower-management ranks.
$27 Million in Debts
Garcia’s Burbank company, Equestrian Centers of America Inc., had operated the center since 1982. Over that time, it amassed $27 million in debts. Although city officials praised Garcia for building what they called one of the finest centers of its kind in the nation, they were angered by his proposals for turning the center into a profit-making enterprise.
Garcia’s most recent plan to save the center called for turning rental stalls into $30,000 horse condominiums and for building a medieval-theme restaurant where diners could watch jousting matches. Under the plan, the center would have received a $12.3-million loan from Trafalgar Holdings Ltd.--$9 million of which would have gone to Gibraltar to settle the debt.
Garcia contended that the reorganization plan was necessary for the center to turn around financially, but several boarders complained that it would ruin the facility’s equestrian atmosphere.
A City Council board, the Board of Referred Powers, agreed and rejected Garcia’s proposal Wednesday. The rejection killed the plan, because city approval was required, said Richard Wynne, an attorney for the center.
The reorganization plan had been filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and a city official said this week that the court could have overturned the city’s rejection. But the plan was withdrawn from bankruptcy court consideration by Wynne after the board’s rejection. He said the court could not have forced the city to accept the whole plan, and Trafalgar would not have gone forward if some of the plan were eliminated.
On his last official half-day in charge, Garcia was obviously upset.
“The big losers . . . are the citizens of Los Angeles and private enterprise,” Garcia said. “The city allowed a privileged precious few to orchestrate a self-centered attempt to keep their privileges for themselves to the detriment of hundreds of creditors and investors, not counting the . . . people who use the center every year.”
Garcia vowed to sue boarders, City Council members and city Recreation and Parks officials. He has often said that Recreation and Parks General Manager James Hadaway is biased against him and his operation.
Garcia said he still will be in charge of supervising horse shows and polo matches at the center. He said he will provide Gibraltar access to center records, “but they can’t have them.”
Other center officials said they are taking a wait-and-see attitude about the center’s future.
“We’re going to put our egos aside and just see what happens,” said Jerry Langer, the center’s director of special events.
