Developer Makes Offer to Buy City Hall Site : Thousand Oaks: Kirkor Suri wants the 34-acre property, used by the city for 19 years, for a residential project.

Adeveloper has offered to buy the property where the former Thousand Oaks City Hall sits so that he can raze the complex and build condominiums or townhomes.

Developer Kirkor Suri said Thursday that he submitted a preliminary offer to the city in December to purchase the 34-acre parcel at 401 Hillcrest Drive.

Suri said he is not prepared to offer $15 million, the appraised value of the property, but is willing to negotiate. In exchange for a lower price, he said he may throw in 3.57 acres of property that he owns at 1 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., which could be used as a city park or greenbelt.

A City Council committee made up of Councilmen Alex Fiore and Frank Schillo is scheduled to consider Suri’s offer Tuesday.

Five previous offers were rejected because council members did not approve of the developments that would replace the old city hall. Those proposed developments were considered too dense for the hilly site, Schillo said.

Schillo said he is interested in hearing details of Suri’s proposal to build condominiums or townhomes on the property. “I would not rule out housing,” he said.

The complex at 401 Hillcrest was Thousand Oaks’ city hall for about 19 years before the city outgrew it in 1989, Schillo said. That year, officials moved city offices to an interim City Hall at 2150 W. Hillcrest.

The city plans to sell both complexes to finance a $63.8-million project to build a larger city hall and performing arts auditorium.

The new civic and government center is being built at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road, the site of a former wild animal park known as Jungleland.

Despite attempts to sell the older city hall, it has remained on the market for about 1 1/2 years.