Talks End Over Sale of Harbor Village : Ventura: Officials approve a plan for the Port District to buy the beleaguered shopping center’s buildings.

Negotiations to sell the beleaguered Ventura Harbor Village shopping center to a Colorado hog farmer have fallen through after the potential buyer failed to hand over financial documents, officials said Thursday.

Ventura Port District commissioners voted Wednesday to stop negotiations with Denver investor Hayden Thompson and pursue a plan for the district itself to buy the shopping center’s buildings.

The district already owns the land, but two banks--Great Western and the Bank of America--own the buildings after its former owner, Ocean Services Corp., declared bankruptcy in 1987.

Richard Parsons, general manager of the harbor, said Thompson never fulfilled promises that he made in April to provide proof that he had the money or the corporate structure to buy and support the center, which has been adrift for years in a sea of lawsuits.

“The Thompson deal was terminated because they hadn’t performed,” Parsons said. “They were supposed to have provided $100,000 to open the escrow shortly after we approved the sale agreement back in April.”

When Thompson failed to put up the money, the district commissioners set a September deadline, which he also failed to honor, Parsons said.

“I’m trying to think if there’s anything under the agreement they did do,” Parsons said. “There may be, but it doesn’t come to my head at the moment.”

Neither Thompson nor his California business agent, Ken Haymaker, could be reached for comment Thursday. The telephone number at Thompson’s Denver ranch has been disconnected.

Now, the district is trying to take over the shopping center while fending off lawsuits filed by the harbor’s marina operators, its shopkeepers and its insolvent former landlord, Ocean Services Corp.

Ocean Services won a $16.9-million breach-of-contract award against the district last fall. A Ventura County Superior Court jury ruled that the district had violated its land lease by failing to dredge the harbor, raising the rent and blocking Ocean Services’ development plans with other landowners.

The district is expected to file a brief by Dec. 31 in the state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal, explaining why it should not have to pay the award, Parsons said.

The district is negotiating with Merchants’ Bank for a loan of about $8 million to pay off debts of $6.5 million owed to investors through the Bank of America, Parsons said.

BofA’s lawsuit to make the port district repay its investments is scheduled for trial Jan. 6, Parsons said.

“If we work something out with Merchants’ Bank, that trial has got to be put over to another date,” Parsons said.