MOORPARK : Market’s Building Permit Extended

The Moorpark City Council has extended for three years the construction permit for what would be the city’s second supermarket, because the developer is having trouble getting financing.

The council last week approved the extension for Santa Monica-based developer Urban West Communities, whose 2-year-old construction permit for the shopping center was due to expire by the end of this year.

The 120,000-square-foot center, to be located at Tierra Rejada Road and Mountain Trail Street, would have a Ralphs grocery store as its anchor tenant.

Officials at Ralphs Grocery Store Co. in Los Angeles said last week that they remain committed to leasing a store at the center once it’s built.

“Our documents are signed,” said Art Garcia, a vice president at Ralphs. “We think the area can support another supermarket.”

But the situation in Moorpark is not unusual, Garcia said. “I have four or five other locations that developers are having difficulty obtaining construction loans,” he said.

Urban West Vice President Tom Zanic said, “Commercial financing is almost impossible to get these days.”

Banks are wary of lending money for such projects because of the high vacancy rate in existing commercial buildings and a general tightening of money related to the recession and the savings and loan crisis, he said.

But Zanic said Urban West is eager to build the center, which it will own and operate, as soon as they get financing. The developer is continuing to talk with prospective tenants, including a major bank and a drugstore chain.