Group Urges County to Reduce Fees for Marina City Athletic Club

Faced with permanent closure of the athletic club at the high-rise Marina City Club, a Marina del Rey advisory group recommended Wednesday that Los Angeles County dramatically reduce the rent it receives on athletic club memberships.

Despite criticism from some residents and club members, the county Small Craft Harbor Commission passed a resolution urging the County Board of Supervisors to reduce the rent it charges on club memberships and initiation fees from 15% to 6%.

The commission’s 4-0 vote to endorse the reduction came less than two weeks after Los Angeles developer Jerome Snyder closed the club’s doors.

Snyder has long argued that the athletic and dining facilities have lost money and are a financial drain on the entire Marina City Club project. The waterfront complex, which includes condominiums, apartments and boat slips, is operating under federal bankruptcy court protection.

For more than a year, Snyder has demanded that the county reduce the rent on the athletic club part of the project. The marina is owned by the public and businesses operate there on long-term leases with the county. The county’s rent is based on a share of the gross receipts generated by various uses of the property.

The proposed reduction, even if adopted by the supervisors, does not ensure that the club will reopen.

Representatives of the J. H. Snyder Co. said the facility could only operate as a new club starting from scratch. To be viable, they said, it would need 500 new members, each paying an initiation fee and monthly dues of $130 to $150. At the developer’s request, the commission also agreed to shift costs for maintenance of the swimming pools, tennis courts and athletic club facilities to homeowners and renters at the complex.

Marina City Club homeowners were reluctant to embrace the deal unless they gained some control over the athletic club. “We do not control anything relative to the club,” said Bob Raichlin, president of the Marina City Club Owners Assn. “We feel that is absolutely wrong.”

The plan for a new club drew fire from Ian Phillips, one of several hundred people who bought life memberships in the now-closed athletic club. Phillips sought unsuccessfully to have the commission delay action on the rent reduction until some agreement is reached with the life members.