Poor, poor Rob Maguire — at least as reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, just a few months after this pretty-near fawning story about him and his supposed savior, Nelson Rising, in the Los Angeles Times. The WSJ story shows the “disastrous” decisions he made, especially in Orange County. Rising, a very savvy and rich overseer, has been unable to stop the bloodletting.

Now, big mortgage defaults are in the offing in both Los Angeles and The OC.

Remember, it was Maguire who insisted — insisted — that the Ballona Wetlands was the best place for a massive office, film studio and housing mini-city in the 1990s. He very nearly got his way, and Nelson Rising played his own role in the near-disaster to wipe out most of the final remaining major wetland in Los Angeles County. Many big-name enviros got co-opted, and the Citizens United to Save All of Ballona was created in response, and they stopped much of the plan. 

Don't feel too sorry for the still very rich Maguire:    

The albatross buildings that are giving Rob so much pain amount to only 20 percent of his “portfolio” of 4.2 million square feet of office and other commercial space.

According to the WSJ, Rising has managed to cut “Maguire's debt by about $1.6 billion.” But this is a guy who so refused to see the bubble coming — like many other exceedingly wealthy L.A. speculators, in truth — that analysts say almost every skyscraper and office tower and other building Maguire owns is “under water.”

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