Jona Goldrich

In a bold move to maintain control of a crippled Marina del Rey real estate empire, the marina's biggest developer Tuesday disclosed plans to join forces with a prominent Los Angeles builder. The new partnership of bankrupt developer Abraham M. Lurie and politically influential builder Jona Goldrich would give the team control of nearly a quarter of the publicly owned marina, worth at least $200 million.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed a scheduled vote on a lease extension for Marina del Rey developer Jona Goldrich, an agreement that was designed to set a pattern for most leases at the county-owned marina.

The Los Angeles County government is poised to approve an agreement that would extend an influential developer's control over 18 acres of prime, publicly owned waterfront in Marina del Rey until the year 2062. County officials say the agreement, the product of more than a year of private negotiations between county officials and developer Jona Goldrich, will set a pattern for lease extensions on other marina properties.

Despite pleas from Supervisor Gloria Molina not to rush into a deal that will tie the county's hands beyond the middle of the next century, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a precedent-setting extension on a major Marina del Rey lease. The board's 4-1 vote, which came after more than three hours of heated discussion, gives Jona Goldrich control of 18 acres of county-owned waterfront property until the year 2062.

First the Promenade. Then the Promenade West Condominiums. Then Promenade Towers. And now . . . the Grande Promenade, a $200-million, 972-unit apartment community planned one block from the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. When completed in the early 1990s, the Grande Promenade will be "the largest privately developed apartment complex in the history of the area," its developers--Goldrich & Kest Industries and Shapell Industries--say.

A remade Marina del Rey--one decked out with new high-rises, additional shopping centers and entertainment complexes--is expected to move closer to reality today, when the Board of Supervisors is set to permit one of its staunchest campaign contributors to build a new luxury apartment building. The scheduled action is in the form of two related matters.

It is one choice chunk of real estate--on the water, on the Westside, close to freeways and the airport. Marina del Rey--anchored by the world's largest man-made small-craft harbor--is owned by the public and managed by Los Angeles County. The marina was conceived in the late 1950s as a money-making partnership between government and business.

Marina del Rey, the image: In a resort-like setting, affluent professionals lead the good life. Their gracious waterfront apartments overlook the white sails and blue water of the gleaming harbor. Marina del Rey, the reality: The apartments are 25 and 30 years old and they look it. In some of the complexes, kitchens, bathrooms, plumbing and electrical systems are wearing out. Some roofs leak. In the harbor, some docks and boat slips are crumbling.

The Los Angeles-area real estate developer revealed that he sold his 9.9% interest in the savings and loan for $7.66 million, or $21.60 a share, in two private transactions. The sale brings to an end 18 months of conflict between Goldrich, a dissident shareholder, and the Marina del Rey-based financial institution. Goldrich tried unsuccessfully to get a seat on Western Federal's board in late 1984 and had been threatening to try again.

Sponsors of a Holocaust memorial to be built in Pan-Pacific Park said work would begin next week on construction of six 18-foot columns commemorating the 6 million Jews killed under Nazi rule. The triangular black-granite columns will carry bronze bas-reliefs and inscriptions depicting the horrors of the era. Flames atop each column will be lit every year on Yom HaShoah, the international day of Holocaust remembrance, which falls on Tuesday this year. Championed for more than two decades by survivors' groups, principally the American Congress of Jews from Poland and Survivors of Concentration Camps, headed by Honorary President Otto Schirn, the memorial was financed through a campaign chaired by Jona Goldrich, a Los Angeles real estate developer.