Fearless Developer : Growth: Despite the recession, Oxnard’s top builder has no plans to curtail his major projects.

It’s a bright, clear morning, and the view from the 21st floor of Oxnard’s Union Bank Building goes all the way to the Channel Islands.

Martin V. (Bud) Smith, generally regarded as Ventura County’s leading commercial real-estate developer, is obviously enjoying the scene below, but he can’t resist a jab at the county’s slow-growth advocates.

“I want to preserve those green fields as much as anybody else does,” he said.

It’s understandable that some tension should exist between Smith and local environmentalists. For nearly half a century, he’s been at the forefront of those transforming the county from a rural outpost into an emerging urban center.

Smith and his wholly owned Martin V. Smith & Associates specialize in such major projects as Financial Plaza, the sprawling commercial complex just off the Ventura Freeway where the Union Bank Building stands.

Even now, despite a recession that has sidelined many other builders, Smith is busy getting ready to launch several major new projects. They include:

* A Country Inn Hotel with more than 100 rooms to be built in Moorpark. Upon completion, it will be the 10th holding in Smith’s hotel portfolio, which includes the Financial Plaza Hilton, the Ramada Inn Camarillo and five already-built Country Inns.

* A 15-story office building that, provided construction permits are granted, will be the third high-rise in Financial Plaza.

* A condominium development in Port Hueneme.

Smith is moving ahead with these ventures in the expectation that the economy will be better by the time they’re completed.

“I hope the recession will be over by next summer, though the war could prolong it,” he said. “But whenever things do turn around, I don’t look for a boom in Ventura County. Growth here will be limited by the water shortage.”

In fact, he said, he does not advocate uncontrolled growth.

“I live here. I’d hate to see this area become like Orange County around the John Wayne Airport.”

Some Oxnard environmentalists view Smith’s expressed concern with skepticism.

“I have nothing against him personally, but he is probably the leading impetus for development in Oxnard, and I am 100% opposed to that,” said Scott Weiss, a founder of Citizens to Protect Oxnard and an unsuccessful City Council candidate in last year’s election.

As for the proposed third tower in Financial Plaza, Weiss said: “I would be against it. As a matter of fact, with the water situation as it is, we need a moratorium on building at this time.”

Richard Maggio, Oxnard’s community planning director, said an environmental impact report on the proposed tower is being prepared. As yet, he said, no permits have been granted.

Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, to whose election campaigns Smith has been an important contributor, praised Smith as “a man who has created hundreds of jobs and broadened our tax base. He deserves a great deal of credit for the forward movement Oxnard has taken.”

Takasugi said he has not yet taken a stand on Smith’s proposed third tower.

“I will wait to see the environmental impact report. But I will say this: As I see it, his developments have been quality developments. He has set the tone for the city.”

Smith credits his staff with much of his success, but admits that he enjoys being able to make the final decisions himself, not having to answer to either stockholders or a board of directors.

If Smith is vain about anything, it’s his age. He won’t reveal it, although he is well past 60, having served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

After he left the service, he was too busy operating the Colonial House, a well-known restaurant on Oxnard Boulevard, to go to college. That may explain his disdain for marketing studies, long-range planning and other practices that are taught at business school.

His longtime attorney, Stanley E. Cohen, said that when Smith announced his plans to build the first of his office structures, now called the Ventura County National Bank Building, “People asked, ‘Where is the marketing study?’

“The people on his staff answered, ‘There is no study. Mr. Smith is going to build the building. He feels people will want to rent space in it.’ ”

Smith not only turned out to be right about the VCNB Building, but also about the larger, 22-story Union Bank structure, which his company says is the tallest building between Los Angeles and San Jose. It’s 86% full--an impressive occupancy level in today’s slow office rental market.

Though he won’t say how much he’s worth, a cursory review of his holdings suggests that Smith and his wife, Martha, are among the wealthiest people in the county.

A key to his wealth is Smith’s policy of retaining ownership of practically everything he builds. Instead of selling the office buildings, hotels and shopping centers when they’re completed, he becomes the landlord.

As a result, he now finds himself with no fewer than 4,500 tenants, ranging from mom-and-pop grocery stores and the Smucker’s jam-and-jelly people, to three of Ventura County’s largest banks.

As for how many pieces of real estate he owns, one member of his organization estimated the number at about 600. But Smith’s top aide, Richard D. Spencer, said there are only about 100 major properties.

Smith’s hotels are located as far north as the Santa Maria Inn and the Danish Country Inn in Solvang, but most of his holdings are in or near Oxnard.

These include the Carriage Square and Channel Islands shopping centers, the Ventura County Airport Center near the Oxnard Airport, Fishermen’s Wharf and the Peninsula Yacht Anchorage marina at Channel Islands Harbor, and a mixed-use complex on Wagon Wheel Road.

One of the restaurants that Smith operates is in the Tower Club, on the top floor of the Union Bank Building. The club, which is modeled after one started by financier David Murdock in Westwood, is one of Smith’s few unprofitable ventures.

“I’m not too concerned about that,” he said. “The club is good public relations for Oxnard and the Financial Plaza. Anyway, I expect it to be in the black when we reach our ceiling of 1,000 members. We’re at 800 now.”

Smith, who often is in his office seven days a week, likes to work out in the Tower Club’s gym, one floor above. He also likes to fish from the deck of his 83-foot yacht, the Dry Martini.

He doesn’t have to worry about the expense of docking such a large vessel, since he owns the Peninsula Yacht Anchorage marina where it is anchored.

He also owns his own railroad--the Ventura County Railway, an 18-mile freight line that carries imported autos and other cargo from the harbor at Port Hueneme to the Southern Pacific connection in Oxnard.

Smith first came to Ventura County in 1941. He had a job tending jukeboxes and vending machines in and near Oxnard.

He saved his money and bought a drive-in restaurant on Oxnard Boulevard. “I was too young to sign the deed, so my mother signed it for me,” he said.

Later, he expanded the drive-in to a full-fledged restaurant, the Colonial House, modeling it after eating places that he’d been to on Restaurant Row in Beverly Hills, where he grew up.

“My first dealership was less than a block away,” said Bob Nesen, chairman of Nesen Motor Car Co., which is now located in Westlake Village. “I’d walk over for lunch almost every day.”

Through the years, Nesen and others who gathered at the Colonial House became partners in some of Smith’s ventures.

“I’m still in a deal with Bud,” Nesen said. “I’ve never known him to go back on his word, and I’ve never failed to make money on a deal with him.”

A Smith rival, Jack Gilbert, chairman of Told Corp., also speaks well of Smith.

“I’m not in his league,” said Gilbert, whose company has built some highly successful commercial projects. “It’s easy to take chances after somebody has paved the way. He believed in Oxnard 40 years ago. So did a lot of others, but he put his money into it.”