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Real estate tycoon Donald Trump pulled out of a partnership planning to develop a retail complex at the Ambassador Hotel site and leveled some choice words last week at the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“The school board has done a great disservice to L.A. This should have been a great economic development site,” Trump said in an interview last week. “There are too many good things to be doing rather than screw around with a board with no imagination.”

Trump has sold his partnership interest in the project, but the other partners remain in the joint venture formerly known as the Ambassador Associates East Coast developers S.D. Malkin Group and Amec Corp. They have renamed the partnership Wilshire Center Marketplace.

Despite Trump’s departure, “the project is moving forward at full speed with a number of lease negotiations,” said Ted Slaught, senior managing director at Charles Dunn Co., the broker for the partnership.

Still standing in the way is the school district, which contends the partnership still owes it about $65 million (the $48 million deposit the district made on the land, plus interest).

Since the group hasn’t paid, the district moved last month to foreclose on the property and authorized its sale. Ed Szczepkowski, the district’s attorney, said the Sheriff’s department, which handles foreclosure sales, has indicated the first available date for a sale would be in early October. Trump’s departure doesn’t affect those proceedings, although if the partners file for bankruptcy, that would delay foreclosure for six months.

“If (Trump) gives us our money back, he could do whatever he wanted to do with the property,” Szczepkowski said. “The decline of the Southern California real estate market destroyed the project, not the district.”

Trump and the other developers had bought the 23-acre Ambassador property on Wilshire Boulevard in the late ’80s and announced plans to build the nation’s largest skyscraper. But the district wanted to build a Mid-City high school and eventually sought to condemn the property under eminent domain, depositing $48 million with Ambassador Associates.

Trump insisted on a higher price and the land sat idle during negotiations. Then in 1994, the district dropped its plans to build a school there. But with the real estate recession in full force, Ambassador Associates filed suit to force the district to take the land after all at a premium price.

Ambassador Associates then announced new plans for the site in March a 1 million-square-foot power center, with discount retailers, a supermarket, movie theaters and underground parking.

Trump said last week the other partners will “keep fighting” to develop the site. He added that he looks forward to returning to L.A. someday and developing another property “in the Trump style and manner.”

Westwood bill fails

A bill to amend the pedestrian mall law that was supported by Village Center Westwood developer Ira Smedra failed in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. But it’s not dead quite yet.

The committee will reconsider it Tuesday, Aug. 11. Last week, four senators voted in favor and two against, but a minimum of five is needed for the bill to pass a majority of the nine-member committee.

Smedra wants to convert Glendon Avenue into a sunken pedestrian promenade as part of his $100 million project, which would include restaurants, shops and movie theaters.

Under current law, when developers convert a street to a pedestrian promenade, they have to settle all claims of damages from area property owners before the street is closed. The damages would be for loss of business goodwill or property damage.

But the controversial bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Kevin Murray, D-Los Angeles, would allow construction to begin before claims are settled. Opponents argue the bill could create a situation in which a public street is destroyed, and then the claims turn out to be more than the developer can pay.

Adam Lewis, whose family owns the Gardens on Glendon restaurant a block south of the project, flew to Sacramento to testify against the bill (although he is not opposed to the project).

“If you dig a hole and obliterate the street, you have to move the dirt. Chances are, it will go by our restaurant,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be a big hit for our business.” The payment from a claim would at least help his cash flow during construction, he said.

Smedra said business owners in the area would still be covered under the bill, because either a bond or cash is posted before the beginning of construction to settle claims.

“The project moves forward,” Smedra said. “This (vote by the committee) is not the nuclear bomb.”

Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Wally Knox, D-Los Angeles, also came out against the bill. Knox argued it was an attempt by a developer to change the law to suit his project.

Kearny chief goes to Tishman Speyer

Jim Brooks has left his post as division president of Kearny Real Estate Co. to head the Southern California office of New York-based Tishman Speyer Properties Inc.

“It presented a unique opportunity to direct the acquisition and development efforts of a global, well-capitalized, privately owned real estate concern,” Brooks said last week, his first at Tishman Speyer.

Brooks’ new position is senior director, responsible for acquisition and development. Tishman Speyer has developed or acquired properties in excess of $14 billion and manages and leases about 35 million square feet of space worldwide.

But so far, it has had little presence in L.A. one office building it owns with Travelers Insurance as part of a larger portfolio. Called The Tower, the building is located at Wilshire Boulevard and Gayley Avenue and houses Tishman Speyer’s Southern California offices.

“They’ve always had a void here in Southern California. It was covered by people from the East Coast,” Brooks said. “You really need a local presence in the market.”

And Tishman wants to increase its presence here.

“We’re looking to grow our portfolio of existing product and development of new,” Brooks said. “The principals are dedicated to creating a large presence in L.A.”

He spent four and a half years at Kearny, a wholly owned affiliate of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds. There, he completed more than $500 million in property dispositions, acquired more than 700,000 square feet of office and industrial buildings, and began construction on two large land developments in Southern California. Prior to Kearny, Brooks was vice president of the L.A. division of Koll Real Estate Group.

Staff reporter Elizabeth Hayes can be reached at (213) 549-5225 ext. 229.

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