Mountain Gate Mall for Sale

Ventura County now boasts not one but two major real estate properties that have been put on the market with identical price tags of $29.5 million.

The new offering is Mountain Gate Plaza, Simi Valley’s largest shopping center. The 282,000-square-foot mall joins a package of buildings and acreage at Oxnard’s Channel Islands Business Center on the sales block at the same asking price.

Mountain Gate has had several face lifts since opening in 1963. The latest renovation cost $10 million, according to Robert Champion, president of Champion Real Estate Services, a Long Beach development firm that is marketing the center. Champion is a partner in the mall along with Long Beach Service Corp., a unit of Orange County-based Long Beach Bank.

Though Mountain Gate has had vacancy problems in recent years, Champion said it is now 93% leased.

“The new tenants haven’t all moved in yet, but we expect them to do so within six months,” he said.

Current tenants of the 27-acre center include T.J. Maxx, Sizzler Restaurants, Crown Books, Blockbuster Video and an Edwards multiscreen movie complex. A Builders Emporium store left in April but will be replaced by a health spa, Champion said.

He said the center can be purchased with $4.5 million down, with fixed-rate financing available on the balance.