NEWPORT BEACH : Bayside Residents Get Purchase Extension

Although the residents of the Bayside Village Mobile Home Park failed to close an $11.3-million purchase of their park and an adjacent marina before the Monday deadline, they did win a 90-day extension from the Irvine Co.

Mobile home owners last week produced $1.3 million for a down payment on the 27-acre park owned by the Irvine Co. and, with the help of a loan broker, they had hoped to borrow the remaining sum to complete the deal before the deadline.

With time running out, the tenants last week were forced to accept the only terms they could arrange, a short-term loan at a 14% interest rate, according to Bil Gekas, a park resident.

That is when the Irvine Co. decided to offer the residents an extension. “We recognized that they had secured . . . highly unfavorable financing,” said Larry Thomas, Irvine Co. spokesman.

So the Irvine Co. agreed to allow extra time for the tenants to find a more affordable lender. But if the residents fail to do that by Dec. 28, the land’s leaseholder, DeAnza Assets Corp. of Beverly Hills, would then get an opportunity to purchase the park at the same price--$7.8 million for the land and $3.5 million for the 224-slip marina, Thomas said.

This transaction has been in the works since last winter when residents learned that the Irvine Co. intended to sell the senior citizens-only park to DeAnza, which holds an 18-year lease on the park and rents spaces to tenants.