L.A. Pulls In Over $2 Million at Land Auction

To the delight of Los Angeles officials, the first installment of a new city effort to sell off surplus land brought in more than $2 million Friday during an auction of 12 parcels in Venice.

The city plans a series of property auctions intended to build up its shrinking coffers and put vacant property back on the tax rolls.

Most of the parcels were small weed-covered lots near the historic canal district and were bought by developers and brokers who plan to build homes or condominiums on the land.

When the bidding was over, only one of the 12 parcels had been sold for the minimum bid, which is routinely set at 80% of the land’s assessed value. One lot on Driftwood Street between Marina del Rey and Dockweiler State Beach sold for nearly $100,000 more than the minimum bid of $172,000.

“To us, this is tremendously encouraging because it shows that this program has legs,” said Daniel Rosenfeld, head of the city’s Asset Management Division, which organized the auction.

The city acquired most of the Venice lots in the late 1940s and early ‘50s, when the county took the parcels from owners who failed to pay their taxes. The county offered the land to the city at the nominal price of $1 to $5 per lot.

Beginning last year, Rosenfeld and his staff started looking through the city’s 7,602 land holdings to identify property that could be sold.

Rosenfeld estimates that the city may be able to sell off about 300 parcels. Based on the winning bids for the Venice properties, the city can raise as much as $50 million.

By selling the weed-covered lots and empty buildings, the city eliminates potential legal liability and reduces its cost of maintaining the land. It also can collect property taxes from the new owners.

The auction, held in City Hall, attracted about 40 bidders. It started off slowly with Jess Romo, a city real estate officer, reading off a page of legal requirements and caveats.

But the excitement began to build when Don Kennedy, a professional auctioneer with a deep, rich voice, began calling for bids at a machine-gun pace. Competing buyers flashed yellow bidders cards or simply shouted their offers.

The first parcel, a 2,888-square-foot lot zoned for a residential triplex on Driftwood Street, was offered at a minimum bid of $172,000. Kennedy soon had two bidders going head to head with each other. Charles Gabriels, a San Gabriel-based builder, won out with a bid of $270,000.

“I think it’s a fair price,” said Gabriels, who plans to put condos on the land.

Kennedy didn’t even have trouble selling a lot with an abandoned oil well. The minimum bid was $120,000 for the 2,629-square-foot parcel on Fleet Street. The winning bidder took it for $136,000, oil well and all.

“‘I think the prices were really good,” said Ben Schick, who placed the winning bid for another lot on Fleet Street, where he plans to construct condominiums.

“They are not giving away anything here,” said Bill Stein, a Marina del Rey home builder, who accompanied real estate manager Peter Bergman to bid on a parcel. They came away owning a 2,529-square-foot lot on Fleet Street for $161,000.

The last parcel on the block was a picturesque lot perched on the edge of a canal near a bridge. The bidding began at $160,000 but quickly passed the $200,000 mark with several bidders showing interest.

“This is a choice lot,” said Kennedy, trying to encourage the bidders.

The winning bid came in at $240,000 from Lloyd Green, a Los Angeles builder who said he plans to construct a house on the lot for his daughter, Paula.

“I think I got a good price,” he said.