Investors OK Sale of Malibu Land for Public Park

An investment group that owns the Los Angeles Athletic Club has agreed to sell 1,900 acres of rugged mountain land in Malibu to the Mountains Conservancy Foundation for $25 million. The land is to be used as a public park.

Spokesmen for the two parties said the deal is contingent on the foundation obtaining funds from either state or federal sources before Jan. 31, 1991, which is the date the sale will close.

“This isn’t an agreement in principle, this is a deal,” said Alex Auerbach, spokesman for Laaco Ltd., which owns the Athletic Club and the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.

Sources involved in the negotiations said the property, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean, will probably be added to Topanga State Park, which borders it on the north and east, or else the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The ultimate disposition of the property depends on whether the state or federal government takes the lead in acquiring it.

Environmentalists called the potential acquisition “extremely significant.”

“It’s the last piece of a puzzle in the Santa Monica Mountains,” said Elden Hughes, an official with the Sierra Club. “It connects the mountains with the sea, and there aren’t many chunks of land available that do that.”

Ruth Kilday, the Mountains Conservancy Foundation’s executive director, expressed confidence that the money will be available to buy the property. But she was noncommittal about the source. “Let’s just say we strongly believe that we can put it together,” she said.

However, others indicated that acquisition of the land may depend on whether a state parks agency succeeds in acquiring about 5,700 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains that comedian Bob Hope has agreed to transfer at below-market value.

“If the issues are resolved with Hope, the chances for the Laaco property look good,” said Joseph P. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “If not, there may be pressure to divert funds to buy land elsewhere.”

The property, which stretches from Pacific Coast Highway about four miles into Topanga Canyon on both sides of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, includes a narrow strip of land occupied by several businesses and a few dozen small rental bungalows.

Once part of a Spanish land grant known as the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, the property was involved in a boundary dispute resolved by a land patent signed by President James A. Garfield in 1881, a month before he was killed by an assassin’s bullet.

The Athletic Club, founded in 1880, bought the land in the 1930s from newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. It has long resisted overtures from the state and private developers to acquire it.

Laaco was formed in 1986, and is controlled by the Hathaway family of Los Angeles, which for years has also had controlling interest in the Athletic Club. Laaco owns extensive property in downtown Los Angeles.

The foundation became involved in negotiating for the Malibu property several weeks ago after talks between Laaco and a private developer broke off.

The foundation is a private, nonprofit land trust set up in 1983 to buy property and hold it until a state or federal agency is able to acquire it. The conservancy, the state agency involved in the negotiations with Hope, this week approved giving the foundation $140,000 to help arrange the acquisition. The Sierra Club has donated $100,000 for the same purpose.

Land Deal Map shows location of 1,900 acres that the L.A. Athletic Club has agreed to sell to Mountains Conservancy Foundation. The land is expected to be added to Topanga State Park or to the Santa Mon1768120608