Critique Due in Esplanade Mall Renovation Project

An independent evaluation of the desirable and not-so-desirable characteristics of The Esplanade mall in Oxnard is expected to be presented to Esplanade management within the next couple of weeks.

The report, by the Graphic Solutions design firm of San Diego, is the first step in a mall renovation and revitalization plan that Esplanade officials expect to take shape later this year.

“This is the phase where they tear the mall apart and tell us all the goods and the bads and then we enhance it,” said Carter Hemming, general manager of MMI Realty Services Inc., the San Francisco-based property management company overseeing The Esplanade. “We are anticipating an initial preview in mid-February and from there we will make some decisions about what direction to go in with the renovation.”

The redesign is part of an effort by MMI to make the 70-plus-store shopping center more appealing amid competition from Buenaventura Mall in Ventura and the Camarillo and Oxnard factory outlet centers.

Cosmetic changes to the 685,000-square-foot mall are being considered along with changes in the tenant mix.

“We’re taking a mall that was built in 1969 and that has not had any kind of significant renovation or overhaul,” Hemming said. “We’re trying to do some things to bring it into the ‘90s.”

MMI also includes among its properties Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and the Harden Ranch Plaza in Salinas.

Ruben Andrews, president of Graphic Solutions, would not give details about the firm’s analysis of The Esplanade, but he said the Oxnard shopping center is similar to some of his other mall clients in its desirable proximity to major thoroughfares.

“We’ve worked on the Tustin Marketplace, where we did an identity enhancement, and recently with the Anaheim Plaza,” Andrews said. “Those malls are on corridors such as Highway 101 and Highway 5. They have tenants that are destination-type tenants that draw traffic, and they have small tenants that make use of the traffic. Those are the characteristics of successful shopping malls.”

He said Oxnard’s location near the Ventura Freeway is similarly attractive.

“It was probably a prime location in the area when it was built, and it still is a great location,” he said.

After presenting the evaluation for The Esplanade, Graphic Solutions will design the project and work on the construction drawings.