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Merlo
did not specify any obstacles or deals that
escaped him as far as the redwood region in
Mendocino County. However, Merlo did say that
when he got ready to buy Masonite Corporation’s
Western Woodlands Division, he offered $100
million. That was only about 30% of Masonite’s
asking price of $340 million. At first, there
was no deal; Masonite held out. “Masonite
finally took the offer 1½ years later,”
Merlo said. “I had made a fair offer.”
The Masonite lands were actually sold on November
6, 1986 through Timber Realization Company
(TRC), an outfit put together in 1982 for
the sole purpose of selling the Masonite property
and protecting its investors. Merlo’s
deal brought LP 88,000 acres in Mendocino
County, west of Ukiah and south of Highway
20, and 8000 acres in Sonoma County—a
total of 96,000 acres. At the time, local
newspapers reported that, with this sale,
LP holdings in Mendocino County rose to 275,000
acres.
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