Regional Mall Not Feasible, Studies Say : Retail: Reports to the City Council conclude that only a smaller shopping center in Simi Valley would make economic sense.

A major regional shopping mall long sought by city leaders would no longer make economic sense, given the costs of luring department stores and building on the difficult terrain at the proposed site, according to feasibility studies prepared for the City Council.

Even though the community’s shoppers can support a mall, the city might have to settle for something smaller than previously planned on the hilly site north of the Simi Valley Freeway near 1st Street.

Forest City Development, which has an exclusive negotiating agreement with the City Council, recommends the city pick one of two smaller alternatives: a combination mall and shopping plaza, or a shopping plaza anchored by several large retailers.

A smaller mall could encompass 650,000 square feet and three department stores, compared to the proposal for a 980,000-square-foot regional mall with five anchor stores.

Forest City officials will formally present their proposals to the City Council on Dec. 4.

Councilman Bill Davis said that although he has questions and reservations about the alternative plans, he agrees with the idea of scaling back the project.

“I think people look at today’s market, and no one is building those big, gigantic malls anymore,” he said. “They are just dinosaurs.”

Mayor Greg Stratton said that when city officials first discussed bringing a mall to Simi Valley, they wanted something between 600,000 and 700,000 square feet, roughly the size of the proposed alternative mall.

“The mall has grown and shrunk as the market has driven it, more than anything else,” he said. “This is back to where we were originally.”

Simi Valley has been working since 1986 to develop a regional mall and approved plans for a project at that site in 1991. But the downturn of the economy delayed any progress on the project. And efforts to put a Walmart store at the site failed to win approval.

Driving the move to a smaller mall: expenses related to building on the 129-acre site.

The Forest City report said the property, which includes a prominent hill and the Sand Canyon Wash, would require extensive grading and earthwork. Other costs would include building new roads and extending 1st Street.

Also, given the consolidation of department stores, it could be more difficult to lure five anchor stores to a new mall, according to the developers.

One of the alternatives Forest City proposes would be built on the western end of the property, thereby reducing the grading costs involved.

One alternative would create a 650,000-square-foot enclosed mall anchored by three department stores. Immediately to the west, the plan would create a 286,000-square-foot, open-air shopping plaza composed of about five large stores.

The other alternative calls for a 627,000-square-foot plaza, composed of large retailers like Circuit City or Home Depot, with no enclosed mall.

A report prepared by Oster Research Group indicates that Simi Valley shoppers could support either kind of shopping center.

Simi residents tend to shop in Los Angeles County, hitting stores at the Northridge Fashion Center or the malls on Topanga Boulevard. But each of those malls is more than 10 miles away, the report notes, indicating a mall closer to home could keep those shopping dollars from leaking out of the community.

“We clearly are doing a lot of shopping at somebody else’s mall, so in terms of our leakage, there is a demand for that shopping here,” Stratton said.

Stratton said, however, that he doubted the council would support building just a shopping plaza on the site, a point echoed by Councilwoman Barbara Williamson.

“If you stop and think about it, how often do you go to a Circuit City or a Toys R Us?” she said. “You go there once in three months for specific reasons. But women and men are always looking to go and buy a suit or dress for a wedding, and we have no place to go.”