GTE’s Move Hailed as Boon to Real Estate in Thousand Oaks
The influx of 2,200 General Telephone employees into Thousand Oaks should give that community’s real estate business a shot in the arm, local business and government leaders said Monday.
The telephone company believes a substantial number of workers being transferred from its Santa Monica corporate headquarters already live in the San Fernando and Conejo valleys and said it could not yet estimate what percentage of workers would change residences.
Nevertheless, Thousand Oaks real estate brokers are looking forward to selling homes at the $130,000 level and up to the executives who will relocate, said Rick Principe, co-owner of Westoaks Realtors Inc., one of the area’s largest agencies.
Karen Robb, manager of the Westlake Village office of Fred Sands Realtors, said she believed the real estate markets in Agoura and Moorpark also will benefit from General Telephone’s move.
Employees who cannot afford expensive homes will--like other middle-income workers whose firms are based in Thousand Oaks--find it difficult to live close to their work.
“The rental market is terrible,” Principe said. “It will force some people to go to Camarillo and Simi Valley.”
Thousand Oaks Mayor Larry Horner said General Telephone’s move and the resulting increased demand for rental housing may prod the City Council into looking into how to improve that segment of the housing market.
Horner said he believes the city’s rent control law has discouraged apartment developers from building in the area.
Moderate-income workers searching for housing in Thousand Oaks will find several housing projects in their category either near completion or soon to begin construction, said Olav Hassel, a city associate planner.
Many of the condominium units, ranging in price from $65,000 to $132,000, have already been sold, but scores have not yet gone on the market, Hassel said. Generally, only buyers who earn less than about $40,000 qualify for the homes, which were financed through sales of city-issued bonds.
City officials said they are not sure about the effect of increased traffic around General Telephone’s new offices, the former Prudential Insurance Co. headquarters. They noted that Prudential at one time employed 1,100 persons there and said traffic was manageable.
The telephone company’s distinctive building, which appears to be built into the landscape, is situated in the Westlake Village part of Thousand Oaks next to the Ventura Freeway. Because the building cannot accommodate all 2,200 new employees, General Telephone plans to build an annex to the existing structure.
