Tentative Deal Struck on Hotel, Office Center : Thousand Oaks: The ‘Jungleland’ joint venture awaits a contract between the city and developer. Opponents insist that taxpayers are at risk.

A tentative agreement has been reached between the city of Thousand Oaks and a private developer on plans to build a hotel-office complex next to a new City Hall and performing arts center.

The agreement could come before the City Council as soon as lawyers draft a contract, spokesmen for the city and the Lowe Development Corp. of Los Angeles said last week.

The project managers declined to elaborate on the proposal until it is submitted to the City Council.

But they acknowledged that, in general, it involves the city’s redevelopment agency leasing land to the Lowe company to build the hotel-office complex.

The proposed development is known as the “Jungleland” project because it is planned for a vacant 20-acre site at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road that was once the home of the wild-animal theme park.

The joint-venture agreement will be submitted to the City Council in about two months, culminating more than two years of negotiations with Lowe, said Ed Johnduff, the city administrator overseeing the project.

Meanwhile, three activists who are longtime critics of the project threatened a lawsuit last week unless the city discloses details of its negotiations with Lowe and how much public funding the project would require.

The citizens, whose attempt to place the issue before voters two years ago was rejected by the city, reasserted during a news conference last week that the project was financially doomed and would require substantial taxpayers’ subsidies.

Previous efforts to obtain detailed financial information have been rebuffed, said the group’s leader, Heinrich (Corky) Charles, who has retained a Riverside attorney and acknowledged that he hopes to renew a referendum drive.

“The citizens of Thousand Oaks are entitled to a full and free public debate of the project on its merits,” said Charles’ attorney, John Brown. “It is not acceptable for the city to negotiate in secret for two years and then give the public only a couple of weeks review.”

Estimated costs for the Jungleland project have changed over the years, and Johnduff said nothing is certain at this point.

But he said last week that the city’s portion is expected to cost $60 million for a new City Hall, an 1,800-seat performance center, a parking deck, landscaping and street and sewer additions.

The privately developed hotel and office complex is expected to cost about $40 million, for a total project cost of $100 million.

Johnduff acknowledged that a proposed endowment fund for the performing arts center, the interest of which would support the facility’s operating costs, had not yet received any donations.

The final cost of the project’s land also remains uncertain because a lawsuit concerning its value is still pending in Ventura Superior Court.

The suit, filed by the site’s former owner against the city, is scheduled for trial April 9.

The city has already paid $12.75 million for the land, which it condemned in 1987.

But former owner Assadollah Morovati has claimed that he is entitled to $26 million, representing both the land and its potential value had he been allowed to develop it.

“Ultimately, when the figures come in, we will prevail,” said project critic Joan Gorner, who joined Heinrich and Richard Booker at the news conference last week.

Heinrich is a former Thousand Oaks planning commissioner.

Gorner, Charles and Booker said they recently learned through requests for public information that a written agreement between the city and Lowe to negotiate exclusively with each other had expired more than a year ago and was not renewed.

In addition, they said, city officials had refused to disclose details of the negotiations, leading them to believe that talks had either reached an impasse after two years or that Lowe was no longer interested in the project.

Johnduff acknowledged that the city’s written negotiation agreement had been allowed to lapse.

But he said neither side felt renewal was necessary since negotiations were under way and both sides appeared to trust each other.

Ted McGonagle, an assistant vice president for Lowe in charge of the Jungleland proposal, said last week that his company was still committed to the project and felt that it was financially feasible.