We started our Newport Beach-based company in 2009. Our team includes veterans who have been doing real estate since the 1970s. We have completed more than one hundred projects and built thousands of units, each with the passion and commitment to excel in our work for the community and our clients.
We know how to work with cities and get things accomplished. We follow the rules and don’t cut corners. We take pride in our work, move fast and do not stop until projects are completed. We are working with experienced builders and contractors who have worked in Laguna Beach for years and are well-versed in its rules and regulations.
On May 2, 2023, we did not cause the city manager and police to shut our properties down, harm the reputation of the city or Hotel Laguna and 14 West. Instead, we prioritized the safety and well-being of our customers and our team. We had provided the city with ample evidence of our ownership and had multiple meetings while we were running our businesses graciously. When armed trespassers arrived, we didn’t get the protection a business property owner, our guest families or residents deserve. This is all part of the public record.
We love Laguna and want to restore Hotel Laguna to its glory the right way. We are very experienced in the hospitality, leisure and luxury space. We want you to know that we care deeply about Laguna Beach’s unique character, heritage, culture and tradition. Laguna Beach’s greenbelt has been designated a historic American landscape by the National Park Service and Department of Interior. We greatly respect this nomination documentation that is housed in the United States Library of Congress.
The Hotel Laguna is not for sale. We are asking all of you for the opportunity to get to know us and to let us show you how committed we are and who we are. You will see that we are working very hard and diligently to restore the hotel’s time-honored legacy. Our goal is to stay in communication with you on the continuing progress of the hotel and to ensure that the hotel is seen as Laguna Beach’s crown jewel. We want to make you proud.
MOM Laguna LLC team, Newport Beach
MOM LLC: Thank you for the introduction to the MOM company and for sharing and clarifying the unfortunate incidents that occurred on May 2nd. Sadly, this shocking chain of events is now part of the Laguna Hotel and LB history. It is encouraging to hear that MOM fully understood the importance of working with the City too. We can only hope our next Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, City Manager and City Attorney can learn from this and will act expeditiously and responsibly to support your investments. Police protection isn’t an option, nor discretionary by our City Manager.
Yes, the public wants assurance that the Hotel Laguna renovation will be completed as you state here: “We love Laguna and want to restore Hotel Laguna to its glory the right way.” Nothing less should be acceptable to LB stakeholders. Wishing MOM success! Thank you.
Who is MOM Laguna? We’ve been told the owner of the properties is Continuum Analytics. OK, so you build “units.” But have you ever built, owned, or operated a hotel? What’s your experience in the hospitality space? When you say you are working with Laguna contractors, what exactly are you working on? Who is your architect? I know of two locally who turned you down.
It’s great that you respect Laguna’s open space, but you’ll have to be less opaque to gain the trust of a community that has been repeatedly burned. And until you are more forthright about who you are and what you’ve done and how and when you plan to renovate our beloved properties, we will remain apprehensive and vigilant.
Disingenuous – this video contradicts your statements. Seems very clear who the thugs are, and the fact that your side lacks honesty and integrity. I would also suggest drug testing your employees.
https://www.dropbox.com/home?preview=Hotel+Laguna+5_2_23+-+HD+720p.mov
All good fair questions Billy especially after the Mo show, but how about we give these folks more than a day, or two to show and tell. Is that fair?
Jim, interesting that you attempted to place a link from May 2nd. The link is empty, at least on my two Drop Box accounts. Sounds like a possibly that you had, or have a Pro Mo working relationship, or an ax to grind of some sort. There is police evidence that shows that Honarkar’s crew were armed, and MOM Laguna not so. At the May 16th city council meeting a time line of verifiable facts were reviewed. They are on the city website for all to review. If you have facts to share i.e., court documents show them, but please respect the readers on this site by not associating others to “thugs and drugs”. Attacking and bullying anyone is something this city has worked hard at to eliminate this past year. Thus far the MOM Laguna group have been personal and professional.
Jim Watson. It sure does. These thugs have not just caused disturbances at the hotels, but they’ve harassed neighboring businesses as well.
A nuisance to our community. Furthermore, if you look at court documents, it appears they committed fraud by using these properties that weren’t theirs to try to get a loan to invest. https://issuu.com/savelaguna/docs/30-2023-01323759-cu-or-njc
Maybe this paper will start publishing fact and not rumor.
Tony – I notice you own a PR company in Los Angeles, where you recently resided. Have you been retained by this group to handle local public relations? I see you constantly spamming and posting about this on the NextDoor platform. Also, were you not the individual that posted the false information on ND about fentanyl deaths at the high school?
As far as the city website, there’s the press releases, which are more factual than a biased company representative’s public comment at a city council meeting. According to local police, the MOM group had guns. And per that video, they clearly had way more guards and were physically aggressive, thus the reason for the MOM Manager, LLC’s Manager’s arrest for battery and assault (Banayotis “Ben” Haddad).
Saying there is evidence and verifiable facts but not showing proof is pointless. You seem enamored by the MOM group, but most of us residents would like more information, and the court documents against Continuum/MOM, as well as the video, are very telling and filled with exhibits backing Honarker’s case. The filed documents have a real timeline that show clear retaliation on Continuum/MOM’s part after Honarker requested paperwork regarding the fraudulent activity he discovered that was committed by Continuum and Nanobanc. Since it totals well over $20 million, I am shocked the feds have not jumped in.
At the end of the day, the devil we know is better than the one we don’t. This family is local, and has been very transparent about their plans. MOM has only recently surfaced claiming sainthood and complete innocence. Their PR has been atrocious, and they have yet to make public their accomplishments outside of town, let alone in Laguna. Not one donation to a charity, nothing, and now suddenly they have been in control for years? Something is not as it seems. They have no website, no digital presence. They just appeared out of thin air. I for one will be watching this carefully unfold through the courts. I see Moe requested a receiver to protect the assets, that hearing is schedule for July. Until then can we just resume our lives, quit the gossip, and not spread rumors? Why can’t we as a community be more civilized? The same posse consistently attacks our City Manager and the Honarker family, who coincidently have the same ethnic background. Sure does make you wonder…
Who is the spokesperson for MOM LLC? This all seems a little suspicious woth no spokesperson?
On Monday the court ruled against Mo and for MOM LLC. The temporary restraining order forbidding Mo from coming within 200 ft. of the properties is now an Injunction until the lawsuit is settled. That means that MOM LLC proved they are in fact the clear owners/operators of the hotels and other properties here in Laguna. Honarkar has no case – he presented no documents nor could he substantiate in any way his claims to the properties. This is fact not conjecture and is public information. No one is hounding him. He signed over all his rights to the properties in 2021 to MOM LLC and he was just an at will employee. They terminated his employment in March. Then on May 2 he and his armed people trespassed, harassed and destroyed property. These are facts. He should have been arrested but the City Manager didn’t do that. The court obviously didn’t believe Honarkar or his “documents” that I understand were changed days before the hearing and only had Honarkar’s signature.
So while he may be local as someone pointed out, it doesn’t mean he’s been honest about his business dealings or with the public. Thank you but I’ll stick to the court’s decision and am going to give MOM LLC an opportunity to make things right with the Hotel Laguna. Mo, with all his building problems, red tags, Coastal Commission violations – well – I just don’t trust that kind of operating style. And as an added fact MOM LLC served subpoenas on the City yesterday regarding this lawsuit with Mo. Filed with the City Clerk. Check it out – the city is complicit with what happened on May 2 and they are going to find out what happened. Do you think a lawsuit against the city is far behind???