Around 330 acres of farmland that once belonged to Fresno’s Assemi family has been sold, according to new reports.
Property records show that Mission Ranch, which lies in southwest Fresno spanning from W Whites Bridge Ave to Church Ave, roughly between S Marks Ave. and S Hughes Ave., was sold to Nader Malakan. McClatchy first reported the sale.
The backstory: Two years ago a federal judge appointed a receiver to oversee the Assemi family’s farming operations after lenders accused the family of defaulting on over $705 million in loans.
Court documents showed that the Assemi family had over 50,000 acres of distressed farmland.
The big picture: Malakan, the owner of Malakan Diamond Company, purchased the land for an estimated $14 million through Running Stallion Ranch LLC.
The sale took place on Jan. 9 through court-appointed receiver Lance Miller, according to property records.
While brokerage Pearson Realty put a $16.6 million price tag for the property – $50,000 per acre – county records show that a transfer tax amount came in at $15,400 for the sale, which puts the estimated price at $14 million.
Flashback: The Assemi family previously planned to develop Mission Ranch as a golf course and housing development that would be called Running Horse.
Long before he was president, Donald Trump was one of the investors who had been in talks to acquire and develop the property.