VENTURA : Church Officials Hope to Develop Site

The San Buenaventura Mission wants to develop its downtown Ventura property, building a new school, auditorium, parking lot and even some shops and condominiums, church officials told the city this week.

Officials of the church, at 211 E. Main St., hope to build a new campus for the church’s Holy Cross School. The school, built in 1922, is situated west of the church. Church officials want to build a new school behind the mission, replete with a new parking lot and 750-seat auditorium, then tear down the old school and rip up the existing parking lot, leaving a field, officials said.

That project will cost $4 million to $6 million, which means a lot of fund raising for the mission, now operating with a $300,000 capital improvements budget, Msgr. Patrick O’Brien said.

“We have to start sometime, and the first thing is to have a plan,” he said. “You can wait until the right time, but if you are not prepared, the right time never comes.”

Church officials also would like to lease land to the north and east of the mission to a developer for construction of 18 condominiums behind the church and some shops and offices to the east of the mission property.

O’Brien presented the proposal to a City Council economics committee Wednesday.

“All of this is to enhance” the mission, O’Brien said. “It’s a jewel of a place, and this would enhance the jewel.”