New Pebble Beach Owners Are Playing Finesse Game

The new owners of Pebble Beach are letting some grass grow under their feet, and that’s purely intentional. The idea is to let the roughs of the legendary seaside golf links deepen and thicken to make them more of a test of skill for the 156 amateurs and pros who will play in the U.S. Open June 15-21.

If the roughs are getting rougher, the relationship between Monterey Peninsula residents and the new Japanese owners of Pebble Beach resort appears to be blissfully smooth--for now, anyhow. It may be an indication--again, just for now--that Japanese investors and American communities can get along.

The owners--Japanese investors calling themselves Lone Cypress Co., after the landmark tree along 17 Mile Drive--say they learned much from Japanese developer Minoru Isutani’s botched attempt to sell pricey memberships. They are lavishing attention and millions of dollars on the course and the lodge at Pebble Beach, and they are doing their best to be good citizens by making generous donations to local charities and keeping officials and homeowners apprised of plans.

Despite their best efforts, their intention to develop another golf course and 350 residential parcels could yet land them in the rough with residents, many of whom believe that their affluent, picturesque peninsula has seen enough development already, thank you.

“There is very little remnant forest left,” said Janice O’Brien, who heads the Forest Committee, a 20-year-old group dedicated to preserving the area’s Del Monte Forest, with its rare stands of Monterey pines. “We feel that . . . the development plans should be scrapped.”

Not too likely. Pebble Beach officials have alerted the neighboring community that they intend to seek an amendment to land use plans that would enable them to develop the properties, including an 18-hole course in the hills directly above Pebble Beach that has been on the drawing boards for more than two years.

The company also plans to develop half-acre lots but has voluntarily set a cap at 350, well below the 900 allowed under current land use plans. As a result, the amount of open space would be greatly increased.

“If this plan goes through, this will be the final build-out for Pebble Beach and the Del Monte Forest,” said Mark J. Verbonich, a Pebble Beach spokesman.

Verbonich said the company would expect to sell the parcels within three years for about $250,000 each. Pebble Beach officials will present details at two community workshops this week in Monterey.

The open communications contrast sharply with the style of golf course developer Isutani, an absentee owner whose bulldozer approach to land use issues did not sit well with local government officials, residents or the California Coastal Commission.

Lone Cypress is owned by Taiheiyo Club Inc., which operates nine prominent courses in Japan, and Sumitomo Credit Service Co., Japan’s biggest issuer of Visa cards. Sumitomo Bank, which has stakes in both companies, financed the deal, which closed in March, and has placed a four-man team of overseers in Carmel.

The investors paid an estimated $500 million for Pebble Beach, the lodge, three other golf courses and the Inn at Spanish Bay. That amount was a 3-iron short of the $850 million that Isutani reportedly paid when he bought the rundown resort in 1990 from a partnership headed by oilman Marvin Davis.

Soon after, reports trickled out in the Japanese and U.S. press that Isutani paid such a rich price because he hoped to sell memberships in a private Pebble Beach club and use the proceeds to pare his hefty debt load. Initial reports were that he expected to persuade golf-crazy Japanese to pay as much as $740,000 per membership.

Nonstop speculation that Isutani was connected with the Japanese mafia, on top of the recession in the United States and Japan, caused him to abandon his scheme.

This time around, the owners have promised that there will be no memberships and no bombshells.

“The principal idea . . . is that Lone Cypress should be harmonious (with) and contribute to the local community,” said Masatsugu Takabayashi, the Tokyo-based president of Lone Cypress, who spends at least a few days each month at Pebble Beach.

Karin Strasser Kauffman, who chairs the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, is cautiously optimistic that the board and the company will be able to come to terms.

She noted the “murmurs of concurrence” that emanate from Lone Cypress officials when mention is made of Del Monte Forest’s being a special place. The owners seem to be aware, she said, that “our coastline requires a more respectful attitude” than that held by Isutani. “Anything proposed,” she added, “will require thoughtful scrutiny by local government and residents.”

Nevertheless, “I believe in long-lasting romance,” she said. “Hopefully, the honeymoon will be a long one.”