OXNARD : Foreclosure Still Sought on Project

Citing an ever-mounting debt, Oxnard city officials are continuing their efforts to foreclose on the beleaguered Oxnard Town Center project.

More than $7.7 million in unpaid interest has accrued on the 265-acre project, located on the edge of the Santa Clara River just east of the Ventura Freeway, since 1991, when developers stopped making payments on a city-issued $14.8-million bond.

Since then, the city has been thwarted in attempts to collect the back interest from the center’s developer because the Solvang-based partnership, Oxnard Town Center Inc., has collapsed.

“They pretty much folded up their tents and walked away,” city financial analyst Jim Fabian said.

Despite the partnership’s failure to pay, Fabian said he will recommend that the City Council tonight add $869,968 more to the project’s delinquent interest payments, in anticipation of a another tax bill set to come due Monday.

Fabian said the city is still pursuing foreclosure on the property in Ventura County Superior Court in an effort to help repay the private investors who purchased the city-issued bonds.

Oxnard issued the bonds to raise money to build roads and provide water and sewer systems to the project area.

The $500-million Oxnard Town Center development was envisioned as a complex of high-rise office buildings, a cultural center, restaurants and a regional mall.

So far, only one office tower and a few smaller buildings have been constructed.