VENTURA : Buenaventura Mall Seeks Expansion OK

The Buenaventura Mall has submitted a request to the city to nearly double its size, making it the largest retail shopping center in Ventura County.

The application for expansion, filed earlier this week, was announced Thursday. Plans call for increasing the mall’s department stores from two to five and adding a second level. The 28-year-old mall would be renovated and two multilevel parking structures would be built. The project is scheduled to begin next spring and be completed in the fall of 1995.

“This expansion will fill a need in Ventura,” said Lori Gatto, vice president of Santa Monica-based MaceRich Co., which owns the mall. The company is the second largest mall operator in California.

The Buenaventura Mall, which is bordered by Main Street, Mills Road and Telegraph Road, is now anchored by a JCPenney store on the north and a Broadway on the south. Gatto said the mall is still negotiating with department stores, but that the JCPenney and Broadway stores would remain.

The mall has about 90 tenants and is 98% leased, Gatto said.

The new mall would be slightly larger than The Oaks in Thousand Oaks, the county’s largest shopping center. It could also boost Ventura retailing, which has been competing with malls in Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Santa Barbara, said Terry Adelman, director of finance for the city.

The city receives about $14 million annually in sales tax revenue, and at $1.04 million, the Buenaventura Mall is one of the largest revenue-generators in Ventura, Adelman said.

The mall is working with neighbors to resolve traffic issues, said Everett Millais, director of community planning for the city. The company will commission an environmental impact report before bringing the proposal to the Planning Commission.