CAMARILLO : New Factory Outlet Plan Announced

A group of developers announced plans Wednesday to build a $20-million factory outlet mall with 75 stores south of the Ventura Freeway in Camarillo.

The proposed 250,000-square-foot Camarillo Factory Stores would be built on 25 acres of commercially zoned land known as the Koll-Leonard Camarillo Center off Las Posas Road.

In the first phase, the Camarillo Factory Stores would consist of 35 stores built on 100,000 to 150,000 square feet on 10 to 15 acres. The second phase would proceed only if the first 35 stores are successful, said Steve Craig, a partner with Ginsburg Craig Associates of Newport Beach.

The Koll Co., also of Newport Beach, will team with Tom Leonard of Camarillo to build the mall. Developers hope to open the mall by the spring of 1993.

In November, amid heated public opposition, the Sammis Co. withdrew plans for a much larger factory outlet mall on 87 acres of farmland off Pleasant Valley Road near the city’s eastern edge.

Sammis came under fire by residents who opposed the project because they feared that it would generate too much traffic, pollution and noise.

Ginsburg Craig Associates had been considering building a factory outlet mall or a shopping center in partnership with owners of the Mission Gelles I parcel, also off Las Posas Road.

But Craig decided too many obstacles stood in the way of development there.

“Well, it had no zoning for one, and that’s probably the foremost issue,” he said.