"Trying to continue doing business," Bleakley said, SunCal "is making strategic judgments about its assets."
Selling some projects might raise enough capital for the company to ride out the steep downward trend in the real estate cycle and allow it to develop other projects when times get better, Bleakley said.
SunCal has not identified which properties it is willing to give up, but it said Thursday that Marblehead and 10000 Santa Monica Blvd. were not among them. It hopes to find new investors for both projects.
"The bankruptcy action can lead to the development of new sources of capital," SunCal's Soyka said.
In the meantime, the company has what he called "an alternate funding source" of as much as $75 million to cover such expenses as maintaining wetlands at Marblehead and dust control at the Santa Monica Boulevard site.
Considered one of the most desirable locations for development in the country, the vacant 2.4-acre lot between Beverly Hills and Century City once housed the office tower that contained Jimmy's restaurant, a celebrity watering hole popular in the 1980s.
The land was the object of a high-profile bidding war in 2006. SunCal finally topped New York developer Donald Trump with a $110.2-million offer.
Earlier this year SunCal announced ambitious plans to build a $400-million tower with 177 condos aimed at wealthy buyers in the top end of the market.
The proposed building, designed by Paris architect Nouvel, would be a narrow glass structure with sweeping views through the building and extensive greenery ringing each floor.
SunCal had aimed the project at European and Asian globe-trotters as well as local empty nesters ready to move from sprawling Westside mansions to roomy condominiums complete with concierge services, a private club, first-run movie screenings and valet parking.
SunCal had hoped to break ground next year. The project is still in the planning stages and city approvals have yet to be secured.
The Marblehead project is also in the planning stages. The housing and commercial community would rise on 243 oceanfront acres formerly used for agriculture and sewage treatment that would be turned into an environmentally sensitive development with 125 acres of open space, SunCal said.
The company has weathered many previous real estate downturns. SunCal was founded more than 70 years ago by European immigrant Boris Elieff, who died in 1990. Its finances are private, but financial information company Dun & Bradstreet estimated that SunCal had sales of $68.7 million and made a profit of almost $2 million in 2006.
But like its competitors, SunCal is facing difficult times. After good runs in the late 1990s and mid-2000s, many home builders have hit a wall.
"With more than 2 million vacant homes in the U.S., we are overbuilt," consultant Bleakley said.
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roger.vincent@latimes.com
