VENTURA : Shopping Center Approval Is Sought

A Ventura-based developer is seeking approval to build a shopping complex on five acres at the corner of East Main Street and Telephone Road, one of the few remaining vacant commercial parcels in the central part of the city.

The Ventura Planning Commission will consider the proposal Tuesday to build two retail buildings and remodel a warehouse on an adjoining parcel at the southwest corner of the busy intersection.

“It’s a real significant location,” said City Planner Mitch Oshinsky.

Main Retail Partnership wants to remodel a 3,200-square-foot building that houses Avis Rent-a-Car and Taft Cellular Services so that its exterior will match two proposed buildings totaling 51,525 square feet, said John Ash, architect for the project.

The developer is negotiating to bring in a Barnes & Noble Bookstore and a Stroud’s Linen Warehouse for the two buildings, Ash said. If the Planning Commission approves the project, construction could begin as early as next month, he said.

“When the project was first submitted, it was not that great looking,” Oshinsky said. “It was just stucco, and it had many different roof styles. . . . It wasn’t really compatible with the surrounding developments.”

The developer and Ash worked with the city to revise the buildings’ appearance, Oshinsky said.

The style of the two one-story buildings will be a contemporary design compatible with the other shopping centers in that area, Ash said.