Malibu Bay wants nearly a half million dollars in rent.
By Tina Forde/Special to The Malibu Time
The unfolding saga of whether Malibu Lumber Company will go out of business remains obscured by the desire of the principal parties to remain mum.
“There isn’t anything new to talk about,” said Rich Lichtenstein of Marathon Communications, spokesman for the Malibu Bay Co., which owns the land the business sits on and the building. “It’s a work in progress.”
But financial realities appear to be settling the issue, ultimately forcing the bread-and-butter lumber and hardware establishment to give way to more upscale, more profitable uses at the prime central Malibu location.
“I called and talked to them [Malibu Bay Company],” said Ernie Demontreux, co-owner of Topanga Lumber and Hardware Company. “Their rent is obscene. Lumber companies don’t really make a lot of money. They want half a million in rent.”
He said they also offered a lease of only three years.
Weyerhaeuser Company owns the Malibu Lumber inventory and the lease, which ends in April. Demontreux, whose company also owns a 20,000-square-foot full service yard in Glendale, was realistic about Malibu Bay’s expectations.
“Considering what real estate is worth, I don’t expect them to subsidize a business,” he said. “It would take serious sales to pay that rent.”
Malibu Bay Co., Demontreux said, is asking $2.70 a square foot for the building and outside yard. “I pay a dollar a square foot in Glendale,” he said. “I would love to be there [in Malibu] but it just doesn’t pencil out. I would love to have that space.”
Demontreux said that Anawalt Lumber and Erik Jorgensborg, the manager of Malibu-Fisher Lumber sites in Malibu and Santa Monica, also had tried to put together deals.
Jorgensborg had no comment about any ongoing negotiations.
Of the Malibu contractors who will lose a local supplier if Malibu Lumber closes, Jorgensborg said, “They said they’ll miss us.”
General manager of the Malibu site for 20 years, Jorgensborg is overseeing the demise of the Santa Monica Fisher Lumber site, which Weyerhaeuser also owns, and for which he has worked for 30 years, 20 as general manager. The Santa Monica City Council voted Oct. 12 to purchase the property that Fisher Lumber occupies at 1601 4th Street. The city will take over the valuable real estate and the empty building on April 1.
Judy Rambeau, Santa Monica assistant to the city manager, said the city has not determined exactly what to do with the property. “We don’t know yet,” she said. “It could end up being Memorial Park expansion but we don’t know yet. That’s one option.”
The Malibu Lumber site is part of the large Malibu Bay Co. parcel, where the Chili Cook-Off takes place, which is the subject of intense public scrutiny during an ongoing development process. Malibu voters defeated a development deal between the city of Malibu and Malibu Bay in an election last year. However, Malibu Bay recently sent a letter of intent to the city saying it would sell its land in the center of Malibu for $25 million.
An informed source said Malibu Bay has no objection to a lumber company on the site and continues to dialog with potential companies. Malibu Bay, said the source, recognizes the lumber company as a valuable community resource.