Thousand Oaks Will Consider Issuing Bonds to Help Mall Owners Fund Renovation : Development: Janss Corp. would pay special tax for next 30 years. Council will be asked to authorize up to $35 million in financing.

Short of cash but long on ambition, Janss Mall developers on Tuesday will ask the Thousand Oaks City Council to help arrange financing for a major face lift at the open-air shopping center.

Council members will consider issuing bonds to generate quick cash for the Janss Mall renovation project. To reimburse the city, the Janss Corp. would pay a special tax for the next 30 years.

At the end of three decades, the mall owners will have paid back both interest and principal. Still, they expect their total costs to be less than if they took out a conventional bank loan, because municipal bonds typically carry lower interest rates.

Should the Janss Corp. fail to pay the taxes, the city could claim the entire mall as collateral. Thus the city’s finance director, Robert Biery, has described the financing plan as prudent.

And Mayor Alex Fiore on Friday said he is comfortable that the bond issue would pose no risk to the city or to taxpayer funds because the mall stands as collateral.

And mall developer Bill Janss agreed that his firm has guaranteed to repay the bonds. “We’re taxing ourselves.”

During a public hearing Tuesday night, Janss will ask council members to authorize up to $35 million in bonds.

But initially, he will request only about $18 million in bonds, to pay for a three-story parking garage, new landscaping and street improvements. He will ask for additional bonds, up to the proposed $35-million cap, only if costs soar beyond his expectations.

With the Janss Mall occupying a central place in the city’s geography and history, several council members said they were inclined to back the bond issue.

“This would enable a mall that needs refurbishment to have revitalization take place,” Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski said. “What is better for the city--to let a large development like that languish, or to assist it?”

But Councilman Frank Schillo, who has been concerned that the mall’s expansion could hurt small business owners elsewhere in Thousand Oaks, questioned the financing scheme.

Before approving the deal, he said he wanted more details about the Janss Corp.’s credit history. “I asked about their financial situation before and the guy (from the Janss Corp.) gave me a bunch of smoke,” he said.

Schillo also said he would question Janss Mall owners about the status of negotiations with tenants who will be displaced during the renovations.

The Janss Corp. has offered to move affected tenants to new locations, or to buy out their leases. But eight business owners have refused the deals, holding out for better compensation or assurances that they will be able to reoccupy their existing stores after the renovations.

“I don’t want to move,” said Bruce Markowitz, owner of Yogurt Plus. “I’m not in the moving business. I want to sell yogurt.”

With the bulldozers revving up to begin renovations in August, Janss said he believed the negotiations would wrap up soon. From his frozen yogurt and sandwich shop, however, Markowitz expressed doubts.

“We haven’t even come anywhere near (agreement on) terms,” he said. “The last people (Janss) cares about are us--the people who keep the mall running and make him reasonably successful.”

Once renovated, the Janss Mall--to be renamed the Janss Marketplace--will feature a multiplex cinema, a Barnes & Noble bookstore, The Good Guys electronics store, The Wherehouse record store and a food court.

On Friday, Janss confirmed that executives at Mervyn’s department store are also ready and eager to move into the mall. Mervyn’s officials have coyly refused to ink a deal, holding out until the city agrees to allow them to install monument signs at the mall entrance.

Now that three council members have signaled their intention to permit the signs, Mervyn’s officials have said “they’re anxious to proceed,” Janss said.