Developer Gets New Name

One of Ventura County’s largest developers, the Sammis Co., has changed its name to the SARES Co. as a result of an $800-million merger with a Northern California residential builder.

The former Sammis offices in Westlake Village and Oxnard will continue to oversee two major commercial projects on Rice Avenue in Oxnard, said Russell Goodman, who remains as president of the newly merged firm’s Ventura/Los Angeles region.

SARES, whose name stands for “strategic alliance in real estate services,” will be based at Sammis’ former corporate headquarters in Irvine. No cash or shares were exchanged in the merger with Wagner-Kroll Properties, which is based in San Mateo. Both companies were privately held.

“It’s a merger for strength,” Goodman said. “Sammis already had a presence in commercial development in Northern California, but now we’re going to be involved in residential building there and elsewhere.” Wagner-Kroll was particularly strong in apartment construction, he said.

The new firm’s portfolio, valued at nearly $800 million, includes 9,000 acres of land and 10 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space.

Sammis has developed more than 1 million square feet of commercial and industrial buildings in Ventura County. Its current projects in the county total 800,000 square feet.

He said the new company has not yet decided whether signs on Sammis projects in Ventura County will be changed to show the SARES name.

The projects include the 300-acre McInnes Ranch Industrial Park at Rice and Camino de la Raza, and the 65-acre Sammis Business Center at Rice and the Ventura Freeway, both in Oxnard.

Goodman said the company is “rethinking” plans for an 87-acre site it owns at the freeway and Pleasant Valley Road in Camarillo. Two proposals--for a factory outlet mall and a residential community--have been scrapped after meeting with community opposition.