Priced Well Under Par : Development Possible as Studio City Golf Course Property Goes Up for Sale

Greening the urban gray for nearly four decades, the land occupied by the popular Studio City Golf Course is up for sale.

People who know area real estate say the $10-million asking price is a bargain and, should it sell, the property could be open to development.

The 17.2 acres in the heart of Studio City--sporting a nine-hole golf course, driving range and tennis courts--are being offered for sale by the Weddington Investment Partnership. The land and an adjacent swath were offered in 1987 for $42 million, and in 1989 went into escrow for $18 million before the buyer pulled out, according to owners.

“Ten million for that kind of acreage in a central area is just remarkable,” said Tom Rath, the city planning associate who oversees the area.

Sale now could be easier, say owners, not just because of the price, but because of the recent discovery that the independently owned golf course has apparently been operating without a permit since 1985. The lack of a permit could also simplify development of the site, city planners said.

According to documents obtained by The Times, the conditional-use permit for the golf course expired nine years ago. Co-owner Guy Weddington McCreary said the apparent expiration was only recently discovered.

The significance of that discovery, McCreary said, is that under the original 1955 agreement with the golf course, the course would lose its lease without a conditional-use permit. Owners are excited about that possibility, as they receive a mere $1,000 a month rent for the prime property, a figure also spelled out 39 years ago in the lease agreement.

Attempts to sell the land in the 1980s were hampered by the fact that potential buyers were--or assumed they were--locked into keeping the golf course, whose lease reaches to the year 2005, McCreary said.

If the lease is nullified, a buyer could potentially--likely, according to some--develop at least some of the property.

In a recent private meeting, the Weddington Investment Partnership offered to sell the course, driving range and 20 tennis courts to the city Parks and Recreation Department, with the possibility of the operation being kept open and run by the city.

Department officials would not comment on the offer, but according to sources at the meeting, the department indicated it would like to have the property but could not afford such a purchase.

Rath said some development would probably follow a sale, as development could almost certainly produce a greater financial return than a golf course.

“I don’t see how you’d make $10 million in greens fees,” he said.

A compromise often takes place in such situations, Rath added, one in which the developer agrees to leave some of the land intact--a portion of the golf course, for example--in exchange for the approval to develop another portion.

Any development would come under “close scrutiny”--and possible opposition--by the powerful Studio City Residents Assn., which has long supported the urban oasis, said association President Tony Lucente

Also, the land is zoned for light agricultural use and planned as open “green space” for park-type facilities. For most types of development, both a zone change and plan change would be required.

While the community has had a longtime love affair with the course it considers its own, the Weddington family, which has been locked into a lease that reflects a bygone era, has sought to sell the land for an equally long time.

“It (the lease) was signed by my great uncle, and it’s just been . . . a misery for a long time,” McCreary said. “You get $1,000 a month for all this property. It destroys you as far as economic return. You’re land poor.”

Although the 1955 lease was for 25 years with another 25-year extension, McCreary said, family members assumed they would be able to resell or re-lease the land for a higher price when its operating permit expired 10 years later.

But another permit was granted in 1965, and again in 1975, making it valid through May, 1985.

The Weddington partnership has had three law firms study the original agreements in recent years seeking a way out of the lease, McCreary said, but the permit expiration “loophole” was found only recently.

Golf course General Manager George McCallister said only, “We’ve got an ironclad lease on that.”

While no potential buyers have made overtures in the two weeks the property has been on the market, according to co-owner Barry Weddington, one party is greatly interested in a corner of the lot.

“We think that’s going to be the spot” for a new fire station, Fire Capt. Louis Poupoli said.

Studio City’s only fire station, No. 78, near the intersection of Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, was condemned in April after the Northridge earthquake Jan. 17 caused slight damage and aftershocks continued to weaken the 47-year-old structure.

Now, fire officials and McCreary have discussed a land swap, which would give the Fire Department one acre of the golf course property near the corner of Whitsett Avenue and Ventura Boulevard. In exchange, the Weddington partnership would get an undeveloped road near the golf course it deeded to the city during the 1950s.

For the Fire Department to move in, however, four tennis courts and other improvements belonging to the golf course would have to go, and no final deals have been made, both parties stressed.

While the negotiations continue with the Fire Department and marketing strategies are planned for a possible sale, everyone involved--including the Weddingtons themselves--would like to see the area retain at least some of its natural charm.

“We would much prefer to see something that has community return,” Rath said. “But since the city doesn’t have enough money to buy it . . . I’m not sure we’d have much say.”