LONG BEACH : Creditors Take Over Shoreline Village

A Wisconsin-based insurance and credit company took control of Shoreline Village last week after former owners of the waterfront shopping and dining complex fell behind on debt payments.

A foreclosure sale Sept. 1 failed to attract a buyer for the 60,000-square-foot complex, so the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., the major creditor for the former owners, obtained the property.

Shoreline Village Associates, a group of investors that leased the Shoreline Village site from the city of Long Beach, owed about $430,000 to the city for nine months rent and had fallen behind on loan payments to Northwestern. Northwestern officials would not disclose the amount owed on the loan.

Members of Shoreline Village Associates could not be reached for comment. But in July, general partner Michael Lapin said the investors would probably seek protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws.

Lapin said a decline in tourism and the closure last year of the Mardi Gras, one of the anchor restaurants, contributed to his group’s financial struggles. Lapin said sales have dropped at Shoreline Village since 1992, although his group does not keep exact figures on tourism, he said. The 30-outlet complex opened in 1983 near Pine Avenue and Shoreline Drive.

Gary Farmer, Northwestern’s regional manager in Los Angeles, said company officials will spend the next two months coming up with a plan to revitalize the ailing complex.

“Shoreline Village is a unique center that has gone through some hard times,” Farmer said. “We want to make sure we’re doing the right things for it and not just Band-Aid solutions.”

Northwestern, based in Milwaukee, has extensive real estate holdings throughout the nation. Its tourist attractions include Ghiradelli Square, a dining and shopping complex in San Francisco.