Mission Project Gets Warm City Hall Reception : Ventura: Church’s plans for downtown site include a new school, multipurpose center, housing and shops. A developer is being sought.

Plans to build a new school, shops, housing and offices on four acres at the San Buenaventura Mission have drawn enthusiastic support from Ventura city officials, who say their downtown improvement program is off to a good start.

“It’s very exciting,” Councilman Gregory L. Carson said after architect Curtis Cormane detailed the proposed expansion of the 17th-Century church property to the City Council late Monday. “People are really thinking of investing in downtown.”

Cormane of Mainstreet Architects of Ventura showed council members a series of renderings that Catholic church officials hope to build within the next 10 years.

The plans include a $6-million campus to replace the aging Holy Cross School, a 750-seat multipurpose auditorium, up to 18 hillside condominiums and a series of shops and offices along Main Street.

“We’ve brought it to the conceptual phase,” Cormane said Tuesday. “The next logical step, once we get the money, is to get working drawings going.”

Tentative plans call for a three-story, beige and white schoolhouse with wide windows and a red-tiled roof and tower. It would be behind the mission and built in phases as the old campus is torn down.

A two- or three-story commercial building would replace the existing thrift store next to church offices, with the upper levels rented as office space or used for downtown housing. Ocean-view condominiums would be stacked behind the multipurpose center, where eucalyptus trees now rise.

Msgr. Patrick J. O’Brien said he already has discussed the mission’s plans with city redevelopment analysts, who are pitching the project to local developers.

O’Brien said he hopes to lease a portion of the mission’s four acres to developers to build the commercial and residential projects. The proceeds from those deals would be used to fund construction of the new school.

“It’s the primary tourist attraction in Ventura,” O’Brien said of the church. “So anything that can enhance the mission area would be an improvement.

“Our big problem is financial,” he said. “But we see the potential for a developer to enter into a lease agreement for the homes or businesses.”

Although work began on the mission’s master plan more than a year ago, the designs were not shown to the council until Monday.

Meanwhile, two other downtown projects are under consideration.

Developers from Pasadena and Burbank have jointly proposed a multiplex cinema and shopping complex at Palm and Main streets, and another builder is pitching a restaurant and retail complex at Peirano’s, the historic brick building just across from the mission.

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Also, the city is spending $3.5 million to renovate the downtown corridor along Main and California streets.

New landscaping, sidewalks, street lamps and other amenities are designed to entice more visitors to the area by June, when that project is scheduled to be completed.

“I’m really excited and really pleased, but the real credit belongs to the past two councils,” said Councilman Gary Tuttle, first elected in 1990.

“Two councils ago, they sat down and said we need to concentrate on the downtown,” Tuttle said. “So they drafted a specific plan and put some money behind it. Otherwise, the whole thing would have sat on a shelf.”

Carson said the farsightedness shown several years ago is now paying dividends. “Ventura believes in the assets they have, and people are investing in it,” he said.

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O’Brien said the improvements would not lessen the integrity of the original chapel or the historic courtyard. Because the area is rich with tradition, every precaution would be taken to ensure that any archeological finds are preserved, he said.

Sister Joseph Cecile, principal of Holy Cross School, said the new campus would provide a better educational environment for the school’s 230 kindergarten through eighth-grade youngsters.

“The (school) building is 73 years old,” she said. “We’ve stood for 73 years with no problems, but with current building codes and what the engineers tell us, we should be a stronger structural facility.”

Despite the recent flurry of investment interest in downtown Ventura, Cecile is not expecting miracles.

“The students are not that aware of the needs that we have, but teachers in particular would be very delighted,” she said of the proposed campus. “First, we have to find $6 million, so we’re calling it the school of the 21st Century.”