Los Angeles Times Article and Comment

Here is an article that appeared in today's Los Angeles Times followed by some comments from me.

Corus Bank fails; cost to FDIC is $1.7 billion

(Associated Press)

Regulators on Friday seized Corus Bank, a major lender to condominium, office and hotel developers, adding it to the long list of banks that have succumbed to waves of loan defaults.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Corus, a unit of Chicago-based Corus Bancshares Inc. The bank had $7 billion in assets.

Corus Bank's 11 branches will reopen as branches of Chicago-based MB Financial Bank, which agreed to assume Corus's deposits.

The closure of Corus will cost the deposit insurance fun $1.7 billion, the FDIC estimated.

Corus was staggering for weeks under the weight of bad real estate loans. Its collapse had been anticipated.

Regulators closed two other banks Friday, one in Minnesota and one in Washington state.

The three closures bring to 92 the number of banks that have failed this year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Corus lasted a bit longer than many of us thought it would.

Some of our City Council members have stated the failure doesn't mean that Terranea will soon close its doors.

And now with the Marymount stunt, our city is going to need every T.O.T. penny it can get its hands on.

I am not happy that I continue to consider that the Hotel/Resort may close sometime between the beginning of October and the end of February, 2010.

But a new idea popped into my cloudy brain about what could be in store for our city.

What if Marymount joined with another business education institution of higher learning to establish two small colleges, both with on-campus housing at the site currently being used as Terranea.

There are plenty of spaces to hold classes at both institutions. Both could easily be four-year Colleges specializing in business and anticipated degrees Marymount wants to offer.

Marymount could sell its properties and they could become wonderful residential neighborhoods and the money go to securing the Terranea site if that facility closes.

Having a business-oriented College in a city full of businessmen and businesswomen brings expertise closer to classrooms in a city which welcomes business people as residents, leaders, and supporters.

Pacific Heights and Palos Verdes North could close as off-campus housing for Marymount. And if both Colleges field teams, they both can play home games against each other with both schools calling those games 'home games'. (Yeah, that is absurd, but I have been writing far too many hours so far today.)

Back to reality, sorrowfully.

Oh, what the heck.........How about a third small College on the Terranea site which would have "The Donald" establish programs separate from the Business College and combining deal-making with showpersonship?

A third College could have classes geared more towards entertainment on a peninsula that is quite full of residents who are connected with that industry.

"Marymount, Mellon, Trump University of Liberal Arts, Business, and Entertainment.

And it could probably continue to have a 9-hole golf course.