South Laguna landlord objects to Gelson’s purchase of former Haggen store

The landlord for two Haggen Inc. properties, including one now shuttered in South Laguna, is objecting to the grocery stores’ proposed sales to Gelson’s Markets, a Gelson’s spokesman said Monday.

Wave Master Property Owner, LLC claims the sale would break terms of a lease and repayment costs are incorrect, according to an objection filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware Nov. 6.

Haggen officials said in a statement last week that the court approved Encino-based Gelson’s acquiring the Laguna Beach property at 30922 S. Coast Hwy. as part of a $36-million agreement involving eight stores in California. The other property in dispute is in Carlsbad, Gelson’s spokesman Bron Heussenstamm wrote in an email.

A Haggen spokeswoman declined to comment.

In its statement last week, Haggen said Smart & Final LLC purchased 28 stores in California, including one in Corona del Mar, for $56 million.

Objections to the proposed sales are the latest twist in an ongoing saga involving Bellingham, Wash.-based Haggen, which announced in September that it was closing all 67 of its stores in California after expanding from an original 18 stores in the Pacific Northwest. The Laguna store had been open less than a year and was one of nine Haggen locations in Orange County.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and estimated it could save $57.4 million for the rest of the fiscal year and make an additional $125.6 million by liquidating the stores, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Haggen has been struggling since paying what analysts estimated was more than $1.4 billion for 146 Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Safeway grocery stores. Albertsons and Safeway were ordered by federal regulators to divest those locations last year as part of their merger, the L.A. Times reported.

Officials of Haggen and Albertsons have been at odds in the past month. Haggen sued Albertsons, the prior tenant of the South Coast Highway location, for what it said were systematic efforts to eliminate the former as a competitor in five states. Haggen accused Albertsons of sabotage shortly after Albertsons, which denied the allegation, sold the stores.

Before the suit, Albertsons accused Haggen of fraud for failing to pay $41 million for inventory it acquired in the new stores.

It could take several weeks for the court to rule on the objections, Heussenstamm said.