Nearly 30 acres of commercially zoned private land throughout the city will soon be the property of the City of Malibu, after council went public with plans following months of closed-door negotiations with the Malibu Bay Co.
For $42.5 million, the city will go forward with plans for the purchase of:
- 23575 Civic Center Way—known as the Ioki Parcel—at 9.65 acres
- Civic Center Way and Webb Way—known as the Island Parcel—at 1.11 acres
- Pacific Coast Highway and Heathercliff Road—known as the Christmas Tree lot—at 18.48 acres
That means the city is paying $42.5 million for 29.24 acres of land, or an average of $1,453,488 per acre—a competitive but fair price, according to city officials.
City Manager Reva Feldman called it “a price that both the seller and the city thought was a fair market price for these parcels.”
How does the city plan to pay off the purchase? One million dollars is suggested to come from the designated reserve for Malibu Bluffs Park improvements, in addition to $12 million from the city’s general fund undesignated reserves. Then about $7.35 million will come from county Measure R and M funds and $22.1 million through the issuance of Certificates of Participation.
The county transportation measures come with strings attached—the city must provide parking on each of the three lots in order to access this money for the sake of purchasing the land.
“Everyone knows that parking is the big problem here in the city and we have some opportunity with these parcels to add some parking to the city,” Feldman said, later adding, “We would use a combination of the city’s allocation of those funds and Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl has also offered to provide some of the funds allocated to our district area and our COG area for these uses.”
Community response to the announcement at Monday’s city council meeting was overwhelmingly positive, despite little information about what the city’s plans for the land parcels would be.
Suggestions from community members varied and included things such as “much needed city amenities” like parks, fields and swimming pools; an assisted care living facility; ballfields; or a branch library.
“There’s lots of things we could do and it would be lovely, and I think it’s a very mature thing for the city to do—to actually buy things from developers instead of begging them for part of what they’re trying to build,” Realtor Paul Grisanti said.
Due to the purchase of the property, the city’s undesignated reserve fund will fall to 66 percent—still well over the minimum of 50 percent reserves required by city policy, Feldman pointed out.
The listing of the parcels came after the death of Malibu Bay Co. owner Jerry Perenchio, who died last year at the age of 86. Perenchio’s estate is now tasked with the sale of many of the company’s assets, including these three. Malibu Bay Co. was once the largest landowner in Malibu.