Blue Cross Considering Move to Camarillo : Business: City reports a tentative deal. Firm would build a complex to replace Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks facilities.

Blue Cross of California is negotiating to build a giant regional center in Camarillo that would house more than 1,300 employees and replace the company’s operations in the Conejo Valley by 1997, officials confirmed Tuesday.

If the move is approved--and city officials say a tentative deal has been struck--Blue Cross and its main subsidiary would buy 60 acres in an east Camarillo business park from Pardee Construction Co.

Blue Cross officials would only confirm the company’s tentative plan to build a 350,000- to 550,000-square-foot insurance sales- and policy-processing complex in the Mission Oaks area. Pardee officials refused any comment.

But Camarillo City Manager Bill Little said Blue Cross and Pardee have agreed on the broad outlines of a deal, and a contract may be signed by the end of this month.

“It’s close,” he said.

The two-story Camarillo site would replace two now operating just over the Conejo Grade--one on Corporate Center Drive in Newbury Park and a second on La Tienda Road in Thousand Oaks.

Nearly all of the 1,340 employees are expected to commute to the new offices, officials said. And if the company continues its rapid growth, the Camarillo complex could include three phases, not just the initial project now contemplated, company spokesman Larry Bryant said.

City officials said Blue Cross’ arrival would be a boon to Camarillo, which recently launched a regionwide campaign to lure new business.

Mayor Ken Gose said the move would beef up the city’s economic base and give it a tax boost because of spinoff sales at nearby restaurants and shops.

“I think it’s a great thing,” Gose said. “I hear that they will be bringing quite a number of employees, and I understand they will be doing some building here.”

Little said the city did not offer any tax rebates to lure Blue Cross and its WellPoint Health Networks Inc. subsidiary other than lowering the city’s traffic impact fee.

“We like this proposal because it is a good fit with the existing neighborhoods and businesses, and because Blue Cross is a very reputable company,” Little said.

In Thousand Oaks, however, the mood was less than buoyant.

“I hate when that happens,” said Stephen Rubenstein, chief executive of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. He said the move would hurt numerous dependent businesses, especially restaurants and stores. But he said the Thousand Oaks housing market probably would not be hurt since Blue Cross employees would simply commute to Camarillo--only five miles from the Newbury Park facility.

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Thousand Oaks City Councilman Frank Schillo said he is concerned about Blue Cross’ intentions and would make a last-ditch effort to keep the company in the Conejo Valley.

“I would very much like to talk with them,” he said. “They just moved in.”

John Siemon, a WellPoint vice president, emphasized that Blue Cross has not concluded its negotiations and that no contract has been signed.

But he said if a deal is closed, the company would build a cluster of offices near the Ventura Freeway, none taller than two stories.

“If this facility is developed, we believe that it will help us streamline our operations in Ventura County,” Siemon said.

The new complex would be Blue Cross’ central facility for the sales and management of health insurance policies sold to individuals, senior citizens and small companies.

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Both Blue Cross and its for-profit WellPoint subsidiary would still be based in Woodland Hills, where about 2,200 people are employed. The companies employ 4,000 people statewide.

Tuesday’s confirmation follows a series of economic successes by Camarillo. City economic development consultant James Jevens cited Technicolor Inc.’s acquisition of the former Everest & Jennings plant on Mission Oaks Boulevard in 1992. And the company recently leased an adjoining 300,000-square-foot building.

Jevens also mentioned a proposed 300,000-square-foot mini-mall, possibly anchored by a Target department store, at Las Posas Road and the Ventura Freeway.

Other Camarillo successes include Prudential Life Insurance Co.’s proposed move of its Ventura County operations to a Camarillo facility, two new new movie theater projects and a new factory outlet mall.

“Things are definitely starting to look up for us,” Jevens said.

Times correspondent Ira E. Stoll contributed to this article.