Landmark Land Inc

Five years ago, developer Barry G. Hon quit as chairman of Tustin-based Eldorado Bank and decided to try to build a bigger pile of gold in real estate. Hon has found riches. He also found fulfillment, frustration and foes as his Hon Development Corp. in Laguna Hills took on increasingly larger and more complex projects from Foothill Ranch in South Orange County to the controversial plans for a resort hotel and residential community in Rancho Palos Verdes.

County officials Tuesday kept alive a controversial proposal by a financially beleaguered developer to construct a swank residential neighborhood and private golf course on ecologically sensitive land at the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest. At stake is an attempt by Landmark Land Co., which is under the conservatorship of the federal Resolution Trust Corp., to substantially increase the value of the property before the government sells it at auction.

Landmark Land Co. said Wednesday it has agreed to sell a 6,700-acre Riverside County parcel to Laguna Hills developer Barry Hon for $275 million and has hired an investment banking firm to peddle the company's remaining big-name golf and resort assets. The new deal comes just nine days after federal thrift regulators blocked a $967-million sale of Carmel-based Landmark's prime properties to Hon.

Three land developers, two of whom are from Orange County, were indicted Friday on charges of defrauding Louisiana's now-failed Oak Tree Savings Bank. U.S. Atty. Robert Boitmann in New Orleans said that Robert Dupre of Newport Beach and Michael Barrack of San Juan Capistrano were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank bribery and filing false statements to a financial institution. Also indicted on the same charges was W. Harold Sellers of Houston.

County officials Tuesday kept alive a controversial proposal by a financially beleaguered developer to construct a swank residential neighborhood and private golf course on ecologically sensitive land at the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest. At stake is an attempt by Landmark Land Co., which is under the conservatorship of the federal Resolution Trust Corp., to substantially increase the value of the property before the government sells it at auction.

Japanese Back Off Golf, Resort Purchases: Tokyo-based Daiichi Real Estate Co. told the Office of Thrift Supervision that its investor group is unwilling to proceed with the purchase of Landmark Land Co.'s prime golf and resort assets. Daiichi said it might be interested in buying some assets separately. Last January, Carmel-based Landmark said a joint venture, led by Daiichi and including Landmark Chairman Gerald G. Barton, had agreed to buy Landmark's best properties.

Landmark Land Co., which owns some of Southern California's premier golf courses, said Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its prime real estate for as much as $937 million to private interests, including its senior management and investors from Japan. If the sale goes through, it would mark yet another major Japanese investment in prime golf courses in the United States.

Orange County developer Barry G. Hon said Wednesday that he has ended his $275-million bid to buy a Riverside County parcel from Landmark Land Co., whose prize golf courses, resorts and residential acreage he also once coveted. Hon, who just two months ago agreed to buy most of Landmark's real estate holdings for $967 million, said it would be "too risky" to buy a 6,700-acre parcel called Oak Valley from Landmark's thrift subsidiary, Oak Tree Savings Bank in New Orleans.

Japanese Back Off Golf, Resort Purchases: Tokyo-based Daiichi Real Estate Co. told the Office of Thrift Supervision that its investor group is unwilling to proceed with the purchase of Landmark Land Co.'s prime golf and resort assets. Daiichi said it might be interested in buying some assets separately. Last January, Carmel-based Landmark said a joint venture, led by Daiichi and including Landmark Chairman Gerald G. Barton, had agreed to buy Landmark's best properties.

On the surface, Tejon Ranch doesn't look like a particularly exciting company. Headquartered in tiny Lebec, Tejon makes most of its money from farming and livestock. But something about Tejon so strikes Wall Street's fancy that traditional precepts of stock valuation are thrown aside. A healthy company's stock might sell for an amount equal to 10 to 20 times its per-share earnings or two times its book value--the per-share value of the company's assets minus its liabilities.

Laguna Hills developer Barry G. Hon said Wednesday that he has ended his $275-million bid to buy a Riverside County parcel from Landmark Land Co., whose prize golf courses, resorts and residential acreage he also once coveted. Hon, who only two months ago had agreed to buy most of Landmark's real estate holdings for $967 million, said it would be "too risky" to buy a 6,700-acre parcel called Oak Valley from Landmark's thrift subsidiary, Oak Tree Savings Bank in New Orleans.