Chain Plans Store in Downtown Theater

Ben and Jerry’s, the Vermont-based national ice-cream chain, will be bringing its Chubby Hubby, Wavy Gravy and Cherry Garcia to Ventura’s downtown theater complex, developer Victor Georgino has told the Downtown Ventura Assn.

The gourmet ice-cream chain will be Main Street’s first chain store, aside from stores at Mission Plaza on the other side of Ventura Avenue.

Some say it could be a coup--heralding another step in Ventura’s downtown renaissance. Others say it could it could be the first step in the “mallification” of downtown.

Either way, the long-anticipated change in the retail mix of downtown has begun.

Georgino said he has a contract with Ben and Jerry’s to rent it one of six retail spaces in the 14,000-square-foot theater complex for $1.40 per square foot.

The national vendor of rich ice cream is the first tenant for the complex scheduled to be built on the 500 block of Main Street, but Georgino told merchants Wednesday that he is waiting for leases to be signed with Chelito’s Mexican restaurant and a Kelly’s snack shop.

Rents in the complex will range from $1.40 to $1.80 per square foot, he said.

Most downtown stores are renting for 50 cents to $1.10 a square foot. Rent varies depending on the size and location of shops.

In other cities that have undergone downtown redevelopment with a theater project at their core--such as Santa Monica, Burbank and Pasadena--rents have multiplied by as much as seven times.

Still, many merchants left the meeting impressed that Georgino will keep in mind the concerns of small businesses.

“His father was a small-business man,” said Diane Neveu, owner of the Book Mall of Ventura.

Construction of the parking structure is scheduled to begin June 1, and construction on the 1,800-seat theater complex on Aug. 1.