While a preservation group wages a very public campaign to halt any development on private land near the iconic Hollywood sign, the property owners are asking: What development?
Representatives of the owner of Cahuenga Peak, a 138-acre parcel adjacent to the sign, said that while the disputed property is for sale, none of the prospective bidders plans to build on the land.
Ernie Carswell, a Beverly Hills real estate agent who has represented owner Fox River Financial Resources Inc. since 2007, said there have been four serious bidders, none of whom is a developer – with each planning a type of park for the land.
“Of all the people that were interested, none of them were talking about developing or building homes up there,” he said. “The peak will not change.”
The Trust for Public Land, based in San Francisco, reached an agreement last year to purchase the land for $11.7 million, but the non-profit group said it will need $12.5 million to cover all the costs. The one-year option will expire April 14. The trust, which has raised about $8 million so far, wants to add the land to Griffith Park and eliminate the threat of development.
“The goal is to preserve the 138 acres, add it to Griffith Park and keep it as protected open space,” said Tim Ahern, a spokesman for the trust.
To help raise money to buy the land, the group covered the Hollywood sign with 45-foot-tall letters spelling “Save the Peak” – a move that generated wide publicity and, according to the trust, about $1 million for the cause.
This is not the first time the trust has tried to buy the land. In 2006, it reached an agreement with Fox River to acquire the property for $6 million, but the group was unable to raise the money.
Now, if the trust cannot bring in enough by the April deadline, the owner plans to open up bidding to other parties.
Though Carswell insists that development is off the table, the city has approved up to four home sites on Cahuenga Peak.
Ahern noted that the land was originally marketed to those interested in building luxury homes there, and he said regardless of the bidders’ stated intentions, the land’s future is uncertain if anyone else buys it.
“If we buy it and add it to Griffith Park, it won’t be turned into luxury homes,” he said.
Carswell admitted that developers, including an associate of Donald Trump and a wealthy Japanese businessman, have inquired about the property, but each concluded that development near the sign would be logistically and politically impossible. Development would require the construction of roads and sewer lines, and even then there would be a significant backlash from the community, he said.
Instead, potential bidders have expressed interest in parks.
One party, Carswell said, would subdivide the land into 1-square-foot parcels to be sold to the public, giving individuals the chance to own land near the sign, similar to services selling naming rights to stars in outer space. Another potential bidder, a religious group, wants to build a conservation park with trails.
“There’s going to be no change visible to the public,” Carswell said.
The land, which had been owned by the estate of Howard Hughes since 1940, was sold in 2002 for $1.7 million to Fox River, which did not return calls requesting comment.
