Queen Mary in financial trouble again

[RondoHatton]

From the Los Angeles Times:

Queen Mary in financial trouble again
9:48 AM, January 17, 2009
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/01/queen-mary-in-f.html

Save the Queen LLC, the development company that took over the Queen Mary's lease in November 2007, is facing financial difficulties and could be forced to relinquish its stake in the ship.

An advertisement for a sale of Save the Queen's interest in the iconic ship's lease was placed Friday in the Wall Street Journal by the company's primary partner, Garrison Investment Group. The sale is scheduled to take place Jan. 28 in New York City.

Save the Queen managing partner Jeff Klein said Friday that his company hadn't been able to hold up its end of the investment partnership because his partner in Save the Queen, Mountain Valley residential developer Tom Hix, had financial issues.

The situation is an internal matter among the companies that partnered to buy the Queen Mary's lease, primarily Save the Queen and Garrison, Klein said.

The Queen Mary was hailed as the answer to downtown Long Beach's problems when it arrived decades ago. But it struggled to survive as a tourist attraction (though "Titanic" helped). One idea has been to develop the land around the boat. The new financial woes could end up being another headache for city officials.

-- Shelby Grad

 

[Miss 1929]

You can help...

Join the Crew! Annual Memberships
Your friend "ship" supports...

* Restoration projects
* Educational programs
* The ship's archive and historic treasures
* Preservation of this unique landmark

Quartermaster $30.00

* 10% off dining in Promenade Café, Chelsea and Sir Winston's (excluding alcohol, tax and gratuity) and Sunday Brunch (excluding tax and gratuity)
* 10% off hotel accommodations (Monday through Thursday off published rates)
* Free parking - 12 hours per visit

Purser $60.00

* All the privileges of a Quartermaster
* Annual pass
* 1 guest pass

First Officer $100.00

* All the privileges of a Quartermaster
* Annual pass
* 3 guest passes

Captain $500.00

* All the privileges of a Quartermaster
* 2 annual passes
* 4 guest passes

Commodore $1,000.00

* All the privileges of Quartermaster
* Your name engraved on a teak plaque on our Donor Wall
* 2 annual passes
* 10 guest passes

There is a downloadable membership form at:
http://www.queenmary.com/index.php?page=jointhecrew

I am not surprised that they are having difficulties, what with the stinking economy, but at least the new partners put about a million dollars into the air conditioning, and it shows!

Hopefully they will pick up another investor, it is a glorious ship and needs to be maintained in all its glory!

Please also consider attending the 2009 Queen Mary Art Deco Festival, it raises money for the preservation and restoration of the installed art, which is sometimes a low priority for hotel investors. I'll be there!

 

[MrNewportCustom]

And I just now learned that admission to The Queen Mary is free to California residents through January. Parking extra.


Lee