Panel Endorses Waterfront Project Near Marina del Rey : Development: Despite opposition, county commission approves agreement to build community and yacht harbor.

Despite strenuous objections from Marina del Rey interests, Los Angeles County’s Small Craft Harbor Commission endorsed a landmark agreement Wednesday that could lead to construction of a new waterfront community and yacht harbor next to the marina.

The commission voted 4 to 1 to recommend that the county Board of Supervisors approve the complex agreement that sets the financial terms for developer Maguire Thomas Partners to carve a new boat channel across a narrow piece of county-owned land in Marina del Rey.

Access to Santa Monica Bay is crucial to Maguire Thomas’ plans for building an expensive waterfront community of residences, hotels, offices, shops and boat slips, as part of the massive multibillion-dollar Playa Vista project between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs.

In order to create the harbor, Maguire Thomas needs to cut through a 1.8-acre piece of public land in the county-owned marina that serves as the headquarters for the county Department of Beaches and Harbors.

After two years of secret negotiations with county officials, Maguire Thomas and the county reached a preliminary agreement last fall, which set forth the terms under which the county would sell the property.

But Marina del Rey developers, who operate their apartment buildings, boat slips, hotels, shops and offices on long-term leases with the county, have voiced strong opposition to the agreement.

The sharpest critic, Marina developer Jerry Epstein, said approval was premature and would damage the leaseholders, who are the county’s partners in the marina.

Epstein, other marina developers and the Marina del Rey Lessees Assn. all warned that construction of a marina would put Marina del Rey businesses at a severe competitive disadvantage.

That brought a sharp retort from Maguire Thomas senior partner Nelson C. Rising, who told harbor commissioners there was “no conclusive evidence” that the Playa Vista marina would be harmful to Marina del Rey. “The competition is not there,” Rising said.

In any case, he said it would be inappropriate for government to protect Marina del Rey leaseholders from competition in a free enterprise economy.

But concern about the deal’s potential impact prompted the commission, an advisory body to the Board of Supervisors, to delay action on the agreement for four months while an independent consultant was hired to examine it.

Based on suggestions offered by the consultant last month, key financial aspects of the package have been tightened to ensure that the county receives payment of $25 million from Maguire Thomas for the value added for converting 139 acres of landlocked property to waterfront.

In voting against the deal, Commission Chairman Herbert Strickstein, a Century City attorney, expressed concern that the county was not receiving enough money for creating the opportunity to build a marina. “I believe Maguire Thomas is prepared to pay more than $25 million,” Strickstein said.

Plans call for construction of a marina community with a Mediterranean ambience, including 2,576 condominiums and apartments, 450 hotel rooms and 750 boat slips, plus offices, shops and restaurants.

If Maguire Thomas clears environmental hurdles and wins local, state and federal approval, Rising said construction could begin as early as mid-1995.

The marina property, bounded by Marina del Rey on the north and Ballona Creek on the south, is only one element of the huge Playa Vista project to be built on most of a 1,000-acre tract long owned by the late industrialist Howard Hughes.

As part of the deal, the county would also receive a replacement site for offices lost by construction of the boat channel.

In addition, Maguire Thomas would give the county 14.1 acres of land, on which 350 boat slips would be constructed using low-cost financing from the state. Maguire Thomas would lease the slips from the county for 99 years, but would not pay full market rent until the 30th year.

For years, Epstein has been urging the county to condemn the Playa Vista marina land and develop it as a harbor much like Marina del Rey. But the idea has never been seriously considered by the supervisors.

In a last-ditch effort to stop the deal, Marina del Rey leaseholders hired their own economic consultant, who concluded that Playa Vista’s 750 boat slips and new docks planned at other Los Angeles marinas could create severe downward pressures on slip rental rates.