A Walmart heiress and her husband own the shopping center, according to a PR firm hired by the owners’ legal representatives. The Trancas Gardens Nursery, which had received an eviction notice, is working on a new lease.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
A public relations firm hired by legal representatives of the owners of the Trancas Country Market shopping center has revealed the owners’ identity after more than a month of speculation.
Joann Killeen, president and CEO of the PR firm Killeen Furtney Group, Inc., wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to The Malibu Times that the owners of the shopping center are Paige and Bo Dubbert. Paige Dubbert is the daughter of Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie, although Killeen wrote that neither Laurie nor her husband, Bill Laurie, have an ownership interest in the property.
Rumors and fears that the Trancas Market center could become home to possibly a Walmart or other large retail store started flying after the news that the Trancas Gardens Nursery was being evicted from the center. Since then, the owners of the market had reached an agreement with the nursery’s owners for it to stay, for now. They are now working on a new lease agreement. During the past month, no one would positively identify the owner of the mall. Developer Dan Bercu was formerly a partner in the development, but he never returned multiple phone calls to confirm whether he was still involved. It was the mall’s architect, Douglas Burdge, who first informed the public that the owners wanted the nursery to stay. However, the owners were still unidentified until this week.
The shopping center is listed under the ownership of Zuma Beach Properties, LLC, which is based in St. Louis, Missouri. Killeen wrote that Zuma Beach LLC is owned by Thrasher LLC, for which the Dubberts are listed as the managers. Killeen also wrote that Ken Karasiuk of Westlake, who was at one time speculated to be an owner, oversees real estate development for the Dubberts. Linda Bernhardt, managing director at Los Angeles law firm Loeb and Loeb, is the Dubberts’ legal representative.
Opponents of the eviction started an advocacy group, Save Trancas Nursery. The group held a protest at the nursery attended by more than 100 people, and also petitioned the Malibu City Council to do something to prevent the eviction. More than 2,000 people have signed a petition opposing the eviction of the nursery, supporters say.
Bernhardt sent City of Malibu officials a letter on April 30 notifying them that the eviction notice had been rescinded, following a meeting April 28 between herself and nursery owners Carlos Cabrera and Debbi Stone.
Stone told The Malibu Times Tuesday they had been told at the meeting to put together a business plan for the nursery in preparation to sign a short-term lease. Rumors had circulated that the shopping center owners served the eviction notice because the nursery owed back rent and did not have insurance. Stone said she and Cabrera purchased the nursery in October 2010, after the previous owner had left Malibu in December and did not come back.
Stone said the previous owner did owe rent, but that she and Cabrera were working on a plan to pay it. Stone said the nursery does have insurance.
Killeen said Bernhardt retained her firm approximately one month ago to handle public relations for the shopping center and its owners. The shopping center changed ownership in August of last year. In a telephone interview with The Malibu Times Tuesday, Killeen said she did not know why the Dubberts chose not to reveal themselves after purchasing the property.
Killeen said she also did not know where Paige and Bo Dubbert live, although an Internet story by the St. Louis publication The Riverfront Times reported they were married in 2008 in Paige Dubbert’s hometown of Columbia, Mo. Paige Dubbert’s mother, Nancy Walton Laurie, is the daughter of the late James “Bud” Walton, who founded Walmart with his brother Sam Walton.