LONG BEACH : Lease OKd; Queen Mary to Reopen This Month
The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday approved a lease agreement to reopen the Queen Mary with the financial backing of a nonprofit foundation formed by Robert Gumbiner, chairman of the board of FHP Health Care.
Gumbiner is donating $2 million to the foundation, money that will be used by Joseph F. Prevratil to reopen the ship later this month, Prevratil said.
The council initially awarded the lease on Dec. 22 to Prevratil, who intended to reopen the ship with the backing of for-profit investors. Prevratil then turned to Gumbiner’s nonprofit foundation, a change that required Tuesday’s council approval.
The Queen Mary Preservation Trust, an investment group that includes Orange County and Long Beach businessmen, had sued the council for allegedly violating state and local laws in the way it awarded the lease to Prevratil.
The trust, which proposed buying the Queen Mary, agreed last week to drop the lawsuit if the council listened to its new proposal to purchase and operate the ship. The council heard the proposal Tuesday but rejected it. A trust spokesman said the group would meet with its lawyer to decide what to do.
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