City of La Quinta buys old homestead 'Ranch'

Public Record, The, Jul 23, 2002 by Kleinschmidt, Janice

Land in the heart of La Quinta that was homesteaded a hundred years ago just sold for $42.5 million. The buyer? The city of La Quinta.

Known these days simply as "The Ranch," the site was settled by Albert Green in 1902, but shortly thereafter sold. According to the La Quinta Historical Society, the property lay undeveloped until 1961, when Howard Ahmanson, founder and president of Home Savings and Loan Association, and his wife, Carolyn Leonetti, built a ranch house on land next to a toe of the Coral Mountains.

The ranch house, named "Rancho Xochimilco," was built in keeping with Ahmanson's wealthy, art-filled lifestyle. He hired a California artist to design mosaic tiles and a Mexican sculptor to carve replicas of Toltec statuary installed at the National Archaeological Museum in Mexico City. He hired golf course architect Robert Trent Jones to design a ninehole course that featured a waterfall cascading over rocks at the edge of the green. The house was a showcase of beamed cathedral ceilings, quarry tile floors, hand-carved doors and a massive fireplace made of native stone.

Before his death in 1968, Ahmanson raised prize-winning Hereford cattle. There were 100 acres of alfalfa and a 12-acre citrus grove in 1982 when Sotheby Parke Bernet and Mimi Styne & Associates of Beverly Hills valued the 180-acre property at $5.5 million. The site just purchased by La Quinta encompasses another 345 acres.

A January 10, 1982, Los Angeles Times article indicated The Ranch was sold by the estate of Michael and Margo O'Connell to Ridgway Ltd., owner of the landmark Los Angeles Biltmore. Ridgway's plan to develop the land into a luxury resort hotel, golf course and condominium project apparently went awry, because two years later, Landmark Land Company purchased the site. La Quinta Mayor Pro Tern Stanley Sniff says 1984 was also the year Landmark received approval to develop PGA West. The company converted the Ahmanson buildings to corporate offices.

After the failure of Landmark's Oak Tree Savings Bank, the Resolution Trust Corporation took over as receiver. KSL Development Corporation, which sold the property to La Quinta, bought it at RTC auction in December 1993.

KSL leased the offices to Dave Pelz Golfing School and MDS Consulting. Those two operations still rent on a month-to-month basis, says Mark Weiss, assistant city manager for La Quinta.

Located west of Jefferson Street between Avenue 52 and Avenue 54, The Ranch was purchased with redevelopment funds to promote more economic growth. La Quinta plans to build two golf courses and ultimately prepare a master plan allowing hotel and retail uses.

"This is a model that has been successfully utilized by the cities of Palm Desert and Indian Wells," says Weiss. "Both cities have, as an additional benefit, provided access to golf for residents at reduced. rates. Acquisition of The Ranch enables La Quinta to pursue similar objectives."

As a condition of sale, the city cannot build a large hotel on the site for seven years. It could, in the meantime, develop a 250-room facility appealing to a different market than KSL's La Quinta Resort. Golf courses, however, are not restricted, and Sniff says at least one of the two 18-hole courses will be public.

City officials are considering a joint partnership with Pelz, a wellknown, highly respected golf instructor. In addition, preliminary plans call for hiking and biking trails along the perimeter of the property.

"This is the last really sizeable, suitable area within the boundaries of La Quinta that has the mountain backdrop, is centrally located and offers maximum potential for development," Sniff says.

La Quinta's Redevelopment Agency has authorized the city to prepare a request for proposals.

"Because it is a prime piece of property, we hope to find a land use firm with extensive experience in master-planning to help guide us through the process," explains Weiss.

The city plans to embark upon an "aggressive planning program involving citizen participation," probably lasting six to nine months.

"We are trying, as best we can, to secure our economic future," says Sniff. "This is the last and best opportunity to do that."