A Los Angeles developer and the residents of condos overlooking Newport Bay are at war over something one media source likened to an Arrested Development plot line.
At issue is Rick Caruso's 216-foot private yacht Invictus, which the Newport Beach Harbor Commission approved for anchorage in Newport Bay, much to the chagrin of residents who say the tub and its fumes, noise and bright lights will destroy their views and lifestyles.
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Caruso–whose $2.5 billion makes him one of the richest men in LA, whose Caruso Affiliated is one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the U.S. and who owns The Grove at Farmers Market in LA, the Americana at Brand in Glendale, The Commons at Calabasas, The Promenade at Westlake, and the Marina Waterside–wants to host “a small wedding” aboard Invictus this fall, when it will be anchored off Lido Island for 16 days.
Sheesh, there goes the neighborhood!
It would actually be allowed under a pilot project for mega-yachts that the harbor commission is giving a spin, reports City News Service, which picked the item up from the Daily Pilot and attached the Arrested Development line.
The commission believes allowing such yachts might spur other millionaires and billionaires to frequent Newport's harbor. That's what residents Pamela Whitesides and Judy Cole reportedly fear–with all the associated pollution the fat cats will bring.
As Barry Zuckerhorn would say, “Take to the sea!”
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.