Target Store Project Reviewed by Planners

The developer of a proposed shopping center on Agoura Road presented his idea to the public for the first time at an joint meeting of the City Council, Planning Commission and Architectural Review Board.

Although they appeared initially pleased with the design, some officials expressed concern Wednesday about the look of the center’s anchor, a 127,000-square-foot Target store, and how it’s massive rectangular size would fit in with the village-like design of the rest of the center.

Westlake Village-based developer Neil Nadler said the project is not proposed to be a neighborhood shopping center.

“It’s really going to take a little more creativity and sophistication from the standpoint that people are not going to get their groceries, rent their videos and such,” he said. “It’s going to be superior to anything that’s been seen before.”

The center is to be built on 18.6 acres of land on Agoura Road, displacing existing businesses along the street--Hillside Rubbish, Agoura Equipment Rental and the Animal Control Center--which will either be relocated or forced to close.

Preliminary plans for the project propose that the Target store be located on the east side of the development, with an exclusive parking lot. The rest of the center would be on the west side, featuring an architecturally more creative design for restaurants and retail shops.

Architectural features in the shopping center area would be more in vogue, including open areas that encourage pedestrian activity, water treatments and facades that give the illusion of a streetscape.

But committee members and elected officials suggested that Target be flexible in its design, somehow creating an illusion of a smaller building, or adding small shops in the front to break up the facade.

Acting as a redevelopment agency, the City Council last month granted exclusive rights to Nadler and his partner, Ralph Horowitz, to develop the project.

Nadler said that after five months of negotiations, he has reached tentative agreements with the landowners to purchase their properties.