Expansion Plan for Buenaventura Mall OKd : Retailers: Negotiators agree on a scaled-back project that would add a second level and two new anchor tenants.

Negotiators for the city of Ventura and the Buenaventura Mall have agreed on a long-planned expansion that would add a second level and two major stores to the mid-town shopping complex, sources close to the deal said Friday.

Details of the compromise are expected to be announced at a news conference next week.

After three years of discussion, city officials have approved a tax-sharing plan that developers said they needed to finance the multimillion-dollar expansion.

Mall owners first proposed an expansion in 1992, unveiling a plan to spend up to $100 million to double the center’s size, building two parking structures and adding three anchor stores.

But that project stalled while city officials and mall owners argued over details of a plan to share sales taxes generated by a larger mall.

Under the agreement reached earlier this month, developers will scale back their original project.

The latest plan calls for just two new anchor stores, one parking garage and construction of a second retail level.The Montgomery Ward property across Mills Road, which had been included in the original plan, was left out of the current expansion.

City Council members, who have discussed the revenue-sharing proposal for months behind closed doors, were reluctant Friday to talk about the agreement.

“There’s some exciting news for the city of Ventura regarding improvements to the Buenaventura Mall,” Councilman Jim Monahan said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

But City Hall insiders say privately that mall owner MaceRich Co. of Santa Monica plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to transform the Buenaventura center into the county’s largest. The 620,000-square-foot complex is now about half the size of The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks.

“They had on their budget several million dollars to do a major upgrade,” one source said. “I’m glad to see it’s going to be a major rehabilitation.”

Plans call for contractors to build a multilevel parking garage as work begins later this year on a new, two-story J.C. Penney building along Mills Road, sources said.

Meanwhile, a second level will be added to the existing mall, making room for scores of smaller shops. The existing Broadway and J.C. Penney department stores will be refurbished and another major building constructed near Dunning Street, west of the 30-year-old mall.

Buenaventura Mall now consists of about 90 shops and brings about $1.1 million to the city in sales tax each year.

In its original larger version, the expanded complex would have meant up to 1,500 new mall jobs and about 600 construction jobs, according to an analysis prepared two years ago.

But it would also have added 14,000 vehicle trips each day. Sources said the agreement includes conditions that will lessen the impact of the extra car trips.

Officials close to the negotiations said Robinsons-May plans to move from The Esplanade mall in Oxnard to the J.C. Penney building at Buenaventura. Sears may also move from The Esplanade into a new building west of J.C. Penney within two years, according to sources. But Oxnard city officials said they doubt the Sears deal will come together.

“Penney’s wants a new pad,” a Ventura source said. “They want a site that they can build on by August. The target date is to get everything open by Christmas, 1997.”

Executives at MaceRich declined comment Friday.

Company officials at Robinsons-May also declined to discuss the expansion plans, though they did sign a letter of intent several years ago to relocate to the Buenaventura Mall when the expansion is completed.

Oxnard city officials said they have tried to work with the owners of The Esplanade mall to keep stores from moving out.

Losing Robinsons-May or Sears “would hurt the long-term viability of the mall,” said Richard Maggio, Oxnard’s community services director.

“The owners’ intent is to keep them there,” he said. “They have been looking at ways to improve the mall either through expansion or upgrading it.”

The Esplanade, with about 80 stores and 650,000 square feet, earns about $625,000 in annual sales taxes for Oxnard.

The agreement, scheduled to be announced Wednesday, calls for the city to rebate millions of dollars in sales-tax revenue to developers over the next 20 years, a source said.

“That’s a common practice,” the city official said. “It’s either that or we would have a shopping center that nobody shops at.”

Councilmen Steve Bennett and Gregory L. Carson declined to discuss the agreement Friday. Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures also said she would wait to talk about the pact.

“What we agreed as a council was that the specifics will be announced on Wednesday,” Measures said. “There is no need for preempting or making any speculation until that time.”