$200 Million Sought : Suit Accuses L.A. of Wrecking ‘Horse Condo’ Sales Plan

The former director of the Los Angeles Equestrian Center and his financial backers filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the city’s parks and recreation officials Friday, charging the city with ruining his plans to make profitable the financially troubled center.

J. Albert Garcia, who was ousted from the city-owned center in April, 1988, by the center’s largest creditor, Gibraltar Savings of Beverly Hills, said in the suit that the city reneged on a written promise to allow the conversion of rental stalls at the center to “horse condos,” said Garcia’s attorney, A. Barry Cappello.

Cappello said the condo plan--under which horse owners would buy the stalls--had been approved several years ago. The city blocked the plan, saying it was improper to sell park property.

In a suit filed in Glendale Superior Court, Garcia and his backers, who leased the center from the city, asked for more than $200 million in damages, the sum they said they would have earned if the city had kept the agreement.

In addition to the city of Los Angeles, the suit named James E. Hadaway, general manager of the city Recreation and Parks Department, and the City Council’s Board of Referred Powers.

Sheldon Jensen, assistant general manager of the Recreation and Parks Department, said city officials had not seen the suit and could not comment on it.

The Recreation and Parks Department and the board last year turned down the horse condo plan for the 70-acre facility, which is in Griffith Park.

Cappello said Garcia’s firm, Equestrian Centers of America, lost more than $6 million in administrative expenses. The money was spent on developing plans that would allow the debt-ridden center to make a profit.

Under Garcia, the center amassed $27 million in debts. It was losing $200,000 a month, Garcia said. Gibraltar Savings foreclosed a year ago and hired a temporary operator.