Today is the last day to bid on the Los Angeles Dodgers! To preview the highly-anticipated ownership change (in case you haven't heard, last owner Frank McCourt took the team into bankruptcy), the LA Times has a recap of the bidders who have made public their intentions to buy the team. The list is well-stocked with local developers and real estate investors, and based on the type of weight the people on this list throw around, it's hard to imagine how McCourt managed to get his paws on the team in the first place. However, McCourt is a real estate guy too--he originally made his money developing parking lots in Boston--and he had hoped to develop the land around Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, presenting a big plan called the Next 50 back in 2008. The Dodgers sale won't necessarily include the stadium's parking lots (since they're owned by a separate McCourt company), which means McCourt could potentially build on them. Or the lots could sell with the team, in which case, who knows what'll happen? (A spokesperson for at least one bidder (Rick Caruso) has said he has no intentions to develop the land.) To give you an idea of what each possible owner might bring to the table, here's a rundown on them and some of their most notable projects.
1) Magic Johnson -- Possibly LA's most beloved basketball player, Johnson also co-founded Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund. CJUF has recently finished the 38 live/work townhouses known as 940 E. 2nd Street (formerly the Barn Lofts) and closed the funding gap for the long-awaited One Santa Fe project. Johnson is teaming with Stan Kasten, the former president of the Washington Nationals.
2) Rick Caruso -- The perennial tease never quite manages to run for mayor of LA, but he developed infamous malls The Grove and The Americana. He's partnering with recent Dodgers manager Joe Torre.
3) Tom Barrack -- Named the "world's greatest real estate investor" on the cover of Fortune magazine in 2007, Barrack offers no shortage of interesting local connections: his fund, Colony Capital, owns Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch and part-owns Miramax, and was co-founded by former Hollywood bad-boy Rob Lowe.
4) Ron Burkle -- Burkle isn't really a real estate guy--he got his start in grocery stores and is now mostly an investor--but he did buy the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis House in 2011 for $4.5 million.
5) Peter O'Malley -- Owner of the Dodgers from 1979 until 1998, O'Malley hatched a plan to build an NFL stadium in Chavez Ravine in 1996. Someone, somewhere is still trying to make that happen.
6) Alan Casden -- Casden was the original developer of Movietown Plaza in West Hollywood and the Third Street Dress for Less project before losing them last year in a breakup. He's also behind the Palazzo Westwood.
· Dodgers sale: Who's who in the bidding process [LA Times]
· Will Frank McCourt Keep the Dodger Stadium Parking Lots? [Curbed LA]
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