Oxnard Is Upbeat Despite Planned Store Departures

Oxnard city leaders are coming to terms with the fact that they soon might lose both major tenants of The Esplanade, but they refuse to sound the death knell for either the mall or the city.

Although The Esplanade would be seriously crippled if Sears follows through with plans announced this week to move to the Buenaventura Mall in Ventura--particularly since the Oxnard mall’s other anchor, Robinsons-May, is headed for the same place--city officials said Friday they are willing to help mall owners lure other major tenants to fill the vacancies.

“The door is wide open to have them come in and start talking,” City Councilman Dean Maulhardt said. “The sales tax revenue is important to us and we don’t want to lose it.”

And although Buenaventura Mall owners heralded the planned relocation of Sears and Robinsons-May, several other officials cautioned that the moves may never become a reality.

Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig said several things have to happen before there is even room for the two stores at the Buenaventura Mall.

And the attorney representing The Esplanade’s owners said there might be a legal challenge to the moves because the Ventura City Council agreed to rebate almost $20 million in future sales taxes and waive or delay another $5 million in city fees to pave the way for the expansion of the Buenaventura Mall.

“The city of Ventura seems to be committing itself to spending . . . taxpayer dollars to essentially underwrite the Buenaventura Mall owners,” said Northern California attorney Mark Armstrong. “In that kind of circumstance it’s very difficult, because it puts The Esplanade in an unfair disadvantage.”

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Buenaventura Mall owners announced in May that they had reached a deal with Ventura city officials to expand the shopping center and double the anchor stores from the current two to four. A mall’s anchors are considered the lifeblood of a shopping center because they draw in large numbers of customers, many of whom also shop at adjacent specialty stores.

In May, Robinsons-May announced its plans to move to the expanded Ventura mall. The Sears move, which had long been rumored, was confirmed Thursday.

Gillig said that if the stores do move to the rival Ventura shopping center, it would be premature to believe The Esplanade will wither and die.

“There certainly are other major stores that could potentially be interested in moving in,” Gillig said. “I wouldn’t want to create the impression that we’re happy about this--we’re not. But it’s not a mortal blow to the economic health of the community.”

A few years ago, Gillig said, a move by Sears and Robinsons-May would have been devastating to Oxnard because those stores were responsible for a significant portion of the city’s sales tax revenues. Since then, however, many retail centers in Oxnard are thriving, including the Auto Mall, Shopping at the Rose, the Price Club and the factory outlet center.

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“Sears is a large department store, but it’s not going to make or break the tax revenue in the city,” Gillig said. “The face of Oxnard is changed, for the better.”

City officials say they are precluded from revealing sales tax revenue derived from any particular store. However, the city received about $796,000 in sales taxes from The Esplanade as a whole in 1994, said Marjorie H. George, Oxnard’s accounting manager.

During the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, Oxnard collected a total of about $11 million in sales taxes, George said.

The Esplanade is owned by a partnership made up of several individuals, Armstrong said. Over the years, there has been talk of expanding the facility, but no plans have been submitted for city approval, officials said.

Maulhardt said the stepped-up competition between Buenaventura and The Esplanade should send a message to the Oxnard mall’s owners that they need to move forward with plans to expand and renovate.

They have “a pretty significant investment there, and I’m sure [they don’t] want to lose it,” the councilman said.

Gillig also said the loss of The Esplanade’s tenants might provide a good opportunity to modernize the mall.

“It’s an old mall,” he said. “There’s opportunity in adversity.”

Don Facciano, executive director of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, said he believes The Esplanade has an advantage over other malls--including the Buenaventura--because it is so close to a freeway. Also, the Oxnard mall does not have nearby residents complaining about possible expansion, something Buenaventura has had to contend with, Facciano noted.

“We actually think the best location for a regional mall is at The Esplanade,” he said. “It’s not over till the fat lady sings.”