Council Delays Vote on La Jolla Cottages

Still hoping for a deal to save the remnants of La Jolla’s Green Dragon Colony, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to allow demolition of the four deteriorating cottages. The buildings are all that remain of the historic former arts enclave.

But the potential bargain between wealthy La Jolla preservationist Bob Barrymore and a bank representing the trust that owns the one-acre site off Prospect Street has not progressed since it surfaced in April.

$6.9 Million Sought; No Offer Presented Yet

“We have yet to see an offer,” said Franne Ficara, attorney for San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, which wants $6.9 million for the property that also includes the Chart House restaurant, a boutique, a jewelry store, an art gallery, a glassware shop and medical offices.

“We’ve given Barrymore our price and suggested to him that he come in with an offer, any offer. Just put it on the table,” Ficara said.

Barrymore told the council Tuesday that he cannot make an offer without knowing the property owners’ expenses and income from leases on the buildings, information that the trustees are not willing to provide, Ficara said.

Barrymore said the bank’s $6.9-million price is based on the property’s value if it is redeveloped, a sum he will not pay because he intends to preserve the parcel as a historic site.

“I’m willing to pay a little more than what it’s worth, but not twice what it’s worth,” said Barrymore, who has made his fortune selling and developing real estate.

Caught in the midst of the standoff are the four surviving cottages built between 1895 and 1906 during a Bohemian movement that brought writers, artists and craftsmen to La Jolla for solitude, inspiration and the quality of the light.

Sitting on a lot that slopes steeply from Prospect Street to Coast Boulevard just north of La Jolla Cove, the Gables, Jack O’Lantern, East Cliff and Dolly Varden cottages are, by all accounts, deteriorating.

4 Buildings on Parcel Called Public Peril

“Four of the structures on this property are a public hazard, and we’ve been trying for over two years to do something about it,” said Jerald Lewis, senior vice president of San Diego Trust & Savings. Ficara pegged the cost of rehabilitation for the cottages at $368,000.

In 1986, the city designated the cottages historically significant, thwarting La Jolla architect Robert Mosher’s plans to raze them to build a 41-unit hotel. Mosher is the son of Alice Mosher, for whom the property is held in trust.

In April, the city’s Historical Site Board denied the trust a demolition permit, starting a 360-day period during which the cottages are safe from destruction unless the board is overruled by the City Council. But Ficara said that, when that time runs out, the trust can do anything it wants with the buildings.

Tony Ciani, a La Jolla architect who led a group of residents who asked the council Tuesday to block demolition of the cottages, said other city and state laws covering the property will prevent demolition when the 360-day period ends.

Meanwhile, the California Coastal Conservancy has offered its services as mediator of a bargain between Barrymore and the Mosher trust.

At Councilman Bruce Henderson’s urging, the council delayed a decision on the demolition permits until Sept. 13 to allow the bargaining to continue. Henderson urged La Jollans to help collect money to buy the property.