The Mermaid Restaurant property has found a new owner after six years on the market.
Diana Albergate, the stepdaughter of the late Quentin L. “Boots” Thelen, who owned the Mermaid and adjoining downtown property until his death in 2007, confirmed that the property sold to a group including some people who had attempted to buy it once before.
The property stretches from 13th Street to Pier Avenue, along the Strand, and extends east on Pier Avenue for about a quarter block. Albergate said the property eventually is likely to be developed into a hotel and restaurants.
“My understanding is that they will have the businesses that are currently there maintain their presence,” she added.
Sources close to the deal have said that the Marina Del Rey-based restaurant Killer Shrimp may be in line to take over the Mermaid Restaurant, without changing the name. There are no immediate plans for additional modifications.
The buyer group, Strand Pier Holding Company, is still in flux and unable to announce the specific stakeholders within the project.
“Our family has been a part of Hermosa Beach since before 1954,” Albergate said. “All of my siblings grew up with having the Mermaid as center of our life in Hermosa to some degree. So we feel like we are a big part of Hermosa.”
The property includes not only the Mermaid, but also the adjacent Poop Deck bar and Good Stuff restaurant on the Strand and the Cantina Real restaurant, Pier Surf Shop and Tiki Mon Creamery & Café on Pier Plaza. Albergate had been asking about $24.5 million for the property, which includes $17.5 million for the property on the Strand and $7 million for the storefronts on Pier Plaza. Sources within the Strand Pier Holding company said the property sold for well under that asking price
“The potential is extraordinary,” the unnamed source said, adding that the company plans to explore redevelopment of the properties and that specific plans will be presented to the community sometime this summer.
After Thelen died in 2007, Albergate took over management of the Mermaid. She said her family has been forced to sell because a reassessment of property taxes was done after Thelen’s death and estate taxes have piled up.
“I think [the sale] is great for our family because it was an economic necessity,” Albergate said. “The IRS is happy, they’re getting their money. And the new people will be a tremendous asset to Hermosa.”
“It’s sad, but it’s a feeling that’s like when your child’s going away to college,” said Albergate. “You have to let ‘em go.” ER
