Developer Drops Time-Share Plan

A San Diego-based resort developer this week withdrew an application to buy the Sea Terrace apartments and convert them into time-share units.

In a letter to city officials, Winners Circle Resorts International Inc. stated that the company would withdraw its application pending further study of the issue, said Ed Knight, Dana Point’s director of community development.

The developer had proposed buying the 208-unit apartment building, in Monarch Beach near the Dana Niguel Library, and converting the property into luxury vacation condominiums.

Winners Circle filed its application with the city several months ago, even though the City Council last year enacted an ordinance that bans the development of time-shares in Dana Point.

Winners Circle officials said this week that financing and renovation concerns were the main reasons that they decided to take more time. According to a feasibility study the company conducted, the redesign and conversion would have cost more than $10 million.