Simi Council Tentatively OKs Regional Mall : Retailing: Some residents protest that the center will jeopardize existing stores. But officials say it will help businesses.

Five years after the project was first proposed, the Simi Valley City Council has tentatively approved plans for a massive regional mall and office complex that officials say will help to complete the city’s transition from a bedroom community to self-sufficiency.

The council decided during its meeting Monday to delay giving final approval of the project’s specific plan for two weeks to incorporate changes made on various details of the project. But essentially, city officials said, their work is done.

Next to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Mayor Greg Stratton said, the mall will be the most significant development in the city.

“I believe it is,” Stratton said. “The mall is the last component of a city that we currently don’t have.”

He said the mall will provide a much-needed convenience for residents, who often travel elsewhere to shop, while generating jobs and sales tax revenue for the city.

Nancy Bender, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed, saying the city has been trying to get a mall for 20 years for those very reasons.

“It is a big step forward in balancing our community and meeting the needs of our people,” Bender said. “It will enhance our economic base considerably . . . and it will provide a lot of jobs.”

When completed, the mall is expected to generate about $2.7 million in annual sales tax revenue for the city in addition to providing hundreds of jobs.

The fully enclosed, 950,000-square-foot mall will be built on a 126-acre site north of the Simi Valley Freeway, between 1st Street and Erringer Road. The project will also include 500,000 square feet of additional commercial and office space.

Depending upon the economy and the retail market, groundbreaking is expected by mid-1993, with the first phase of the mall opening in late 1995 or early 1996, said Kevin Kudlo, project manager for Melvin Simon & Associates.

The mall will be built in two phases, with the first phase consisting of three department stores, a variety of smaller retail shops, a food court and cinema. The second phase will include the addition of two department stores.

Kudlo said that he has a letter of intent from one department store chain and that two other large retailers have shown strong interest in joining the mall. He declined to give the names of the prospective tenants, saying that the retailers are waiting to see what kind of Christmas shopping season they are going to have this year before making any commitments.

Kudlo said he needs to have signed agreements with at least three department stores to secure financing for the project.

A few residents who opposed the mall turned out at Monday’s council meeting holding a sign that read: “Save Simi . . . Stop the Mall.”

Resident Joe Trematore said the mall will only hurt existing business, while creating more traffic and pollution in the city. Trematore and others also complained that there is not enough of a population base in the area to support a new mall, noting that there is already one in Thousand Oaks and that there are plans to build another at Porter Ranch in the nearby San Fernando Valley.

But city officials and the developer said there is enough business to go around. The underlying advantage of the Simi Valley mall, they said, is that it will be built years before the Porter Ranch mall, which is still in the very early planning stages.

“We’re ready to go,” Stratton said. “Porter Ranch still has a few years of grinding through the Los Angeles system before they get to where we are.”

As for increased traffic and air pollution, Simi Valley officials said the mall will actually help cut down on both by keeping residents from traveling to other areas to shop. Stratton also said he believes that if more people shop locally, all businesses will benefit.

Bender said the Chamber of Commerce is working with Melvin Simon to place local vendors in the mall and to encourage the developer to utilize services from area businesses for such things as mall landscaping and maintenance.

Still, Bender admits that not all businesses will benefit from the mall’s presence.

“Any time you have competition, you have to be more aggressive,” she said. “And there are those who, when they step up to the plate, will do well, and others who will probably be hurt.”

Proposed Simi Valley Regional Center

Developer: Indianapolis-based Melvin Simon & Associates Inc.

Project: Plans call for a 1.5 million square-foot office and retail center, including 980,000 square-feet for a regional shopping mall. The mall will have five department stores, a food court and cinema.

Location: The office and retail center will be developed on a 129-acre site north of the Simi Valley Freeway between Erringer Road and First Street.

Traffic: The entire project will generate more than 45,000 vehicle trips each day, according to an evironmental study.

Revenue: The shopping mall is expected to raise about $2.7 million in annual revenue for the city when fully completed.