Black developers refuse to work with De León on $1.6-billion Angels Landing project
A handful of California developers that want to build their own version of the $1.6-billion Angel Island development in Northern California have blocked a local plan for the development, which calls for putting in a casino-style facility near the beach.
Angels Landing, a planned 1,350-acre mixed use development near Santa Cruz, is a key piece of the so-called Central Coast Megaregion, which stretches from San Francisco to San Diego.
The plan to build a 200-seat beach resort on 1,300-acres of prime high-end oceanfront property has been in the works since about 2007. It was finally approved by a special land use committee in 2013 after a lengthy battle between developers and county officials.
After a failed attempt by the state’s Department of Conservation to block the development — with an appeal to the Supreme Court being rejected — the developer, De León, said it was withdrawing from the development.
But the De Leon family, the founders of the company, has said it will still develop the property.
At the heart of the dispute is another casino planned for the site. The Ocean Casino Coalition wants to build a $100-million casino that would allow up to 350 slot machines and table games. The De León group has said they need to spend more than 10% of their investment on the project to build a first class facility — a figure De León is unwilling to meet.
As with many California development projects, there are many players interested in the Central Coast megaregion, which spans from San Francisco to San Diego.
Cali developer
De León owns a number of properties. As chairman of the board, he is the parent company of Mission Condominiums, a residential and commercial condominium-hotel development in downtown Santa Cruz. His other properties include properties in Monterey Park and Santa Rosa.
In June, De León, whose name is on 11,000 acres of prime oceanfront property