U.S. Agency Postpones Sale of Monaghan Properties : Foreclosure: Resolution Trust Corp. gives owner time to refinance planned projects in Rancho Palos Verdes.

By RONALD B. TAYLOR

Oct. 16, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Resolution Trust Corp. has postponed the foreclosure sale of the James A. Monaghan properties in Rancho Palos Verdes, giving the owner more time to try to refinance the proposed resort hotel and golf course projects.

The two properties, located at Long Point and Portuguese Bend, were to have been auctioned by the RTC on Thursday after the Phoenix developer defaulted on $28 million in loans. The RTC, the government agency charged with liquidating thrifts following the savings and loan crisis, is acting as the conservator for failed Oak Tree Savings Bank of New Orleans, the lender in the deal.

“We plan to re-notice the sale today or tomorrow,” said RTC attorney Greg Yaris. He said the sale should take place “in three weeks or so,” but would not be more specific.

A spokesperson for Monaghan said the RTC will give the company until Dec. 16 to come up with the money. The Phoenix developer is trying to find a partner, or he will sell the property himself, spokeswoman Barbara DeMichele said.

“I will do everything in my power to avoid a trustee sale on this property,” Monaghan said in a press release. Earlier this year he had acknowledged that he was having difficulty raising money for the $200-million hotel project and blamed a weak economy.

Monaghan wants to build a 450-room resort hotel on the 105-acre Long Point site, home of the old Marineland facility. He had proposed building a golf course and housing development on the second, a 315-acre site in the Portuguese Bend landslide area, but a city building moratorium in the area has blocked that project.

The big hotel and convention center project, called Rancho Palos Verdes Resorts, had been given final approval by the city and the California Coastal Commission within the last year. The only holdup in the start of construction had been financing.

The resort project, located on coastal bluffs with a view of Catalina Island, was to have included golf courses, tennis courts, restaurants, large meeting rooms and a 450-room, four-story hotel that was originally scheduled to open in 1994.