Trust to Buy Riding, Tennis Club and Open Trails to Public

A nonprofit land trust will acquire the Malibu Riding and Tennis Club and make its trails and grounds available to the public in the next several months, the buyer said Tuesday.

The 280-acre property, located inland from Nicholas Canyon County Beach east of the Ventura County line, will be purchased by the Mountains Restoration Trust for an undisclosed sum, said the group’s executive director, Peter Ireland.

After a kitchen fire last year, the club closed its restaurant and tennis courts, Ireland said. He said owner Samuel K. Freshman put the club up for sale several months ago.

Freshman, a Malibu resident who developed the club in the 1970s, was out of the country Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

Ireland said the land trust will maintain the area’s four miles of hiking and equestrian trails in San Nicholas Canyon and will also seek to increase the educational use of the new nature preserve.

Riders will still be able to board and ride horses at the facility once the property is transferred, he said.