Not a bad spot for a wedding

Spent Sunday afternoon touring the recently finished casitas at Terranea on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The resort development will have 50 ocean-view casitas (owners are limited to 60-day occupancy and other days are rented out), 32 villas (similar but owners can stay up to 90 days), 360 hotel rooms, a huge ballroom and a par-three golf course. Not to mention restaurants, retail, swimming pools, spa and fitness center.

It's already attracting local buyers in what seems to be a variation on the staycation, albeit an expensive one. Pricing begins at $2.25 million.

The resort, on the 102-acre former Marineland site, is set to open in June and seems geared to be very community-friendly. Part of that bonhomie is being extended to the local arts community, whose works are being used to decorate the casitas. Quite a coup for area artisans, I'd say.

-- Lauren Beale

Your thoughts? Comments?

Illustration provided by Terranea.

P.S. Thanks to the L.A. Land commenters who noticed that I'll be leaving Friday in this latest round of layoffs.  It's been a pleasure to spell Peter from time to time and add a little something to the mix. No, I will not be able to continue as a blogger, but look for me to be joining you on the other side as a commenter.

The verdict in Rancho Palos Verdes: Don't mess with the Donald

Department of random property disputes: A Rancho Palos Verdes woman says the Donald Trump organization summarily ended a property dispute by sending a construction crew and bulldozers to rip down and relocate the fence in her backyard.

The homeowner, Jessica Leeds, has property that borders on Trump's golf course development, and had been in negotiations with the Trump organization, which was arguing that her fence was actually in Trump's property. She says she believed the two sides were in the process of negotiating a solution when a construction crew showed up last Thursday.

“All of a sudden, they were here with their bulldozers taking down the fence, removing and destroying landscape, trees, a walking path, a storage unit — just bulldozing through the whole thing,” Jessica Leeds told the Palos Verdes Peninsula News. “They had a surveyor here … [who] moved the old fence … and put up the fence with some new posts at that supposed property line — which I’m not sure whether it is or not — without even giving me a survey, without even calling me, without even sending a letter — no notification.”

More:

According to David Conforti, the general manager of the Trump-owned course, the action taken on Thursday was to “recoup” their land.

“We’re simply reclaiming what is legally, rightfully ours,” Conforti said on Friday. “[Leeds] certainly had the forewarning. It was a few months old. There was nothing ripped out. What we simply did was remove the fence and then reinstall it on the property line.”

The Trump Organization last winter sent a letter stating that Leeds had 10 or 14 days to move the fence herself, which she did not do, Conforti said.

--Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to Peter Viles
Photo Credit: L.A. Times

Sorry Donald -- Only the Very Best Golf Courses Make The Cut

The next time you are stuck next to a Donald Trump-praising windbag (redundant?) here is an arrow for your quiver: his seaside golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump National Los Angeles, didn't make the cut on Golf Digest's new list of the 100 greatest courses in America.

The only LA-area courses to make the list: Riviera in Pacific Palisades, and the north course at Los Angeles Country Club.

In fact, Trump National LA doesn't even make the top 30 courses in California, according to Golf Digest. Sorry, Donald.

Comments always welcome. Or send story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com