Talks Underway With a Potential Buyer for Janss Marketplace

Janss Marketplace, the oldest shopping center in the city and the source of financing controversy during the 1990s, is for sale.

At least one potential buyer, an unnamed real estate management partnership said to own other shopping centers in Southern California, is in talks with the current owner as well as city officials. The asking price on the center, which underwent $60 million in improvements in the mid-1990s, has not been disclosed.

Janss, at Moorpark Road and Hillcrest Drive, is a brightly colored, meandering 456,000-square-foot center with outdoor walkways and a Mann Nine Marketplace Theatres. Tenants include chain stores such as Mervyn’s, Toys “R” Us, Marshall’s and Old Navy--among top-ranking sales tax sources in the city.

But seven storefronts are vacant.

“There’s a lot of square footage sitting there empty,” City Councilwoman Linda Parks said. “We want to make sure . . . that whoever purchases it will work to make it an even better mall than it is now.”

Some of the 44 tenants at Janss Marketplace said Friday they fear a new owner will force them out with higher lease rates.

“A lot of malls change and the smaller stores don’t have anywhere to go,” said Maria Zendejas, co-owner of El Sol, a Mexican home furnishings store.

The prospective buyer wants to make some improvements but does not want to force out tenants, city economic development manager Gary Wartik said.

Tenants’ concerns date to the mid-1990s, when the New York investment house Goldman, Sachs & Co. bought the center from Janss Corp. The Janss family built the center in 1960. With its new owner, the center underwent an expensive modernization--about half of which was financed by city-guaranteed bonds.

Some tenant rents shot up, forcing some out of business. The Ventura County Grand Jury investigated the rent hikes and a group of tenants sued the owners over leases. The case was settled this year, said one tenant, Dan Kupper, who owns Chaos Skateboarding.

“I think fresh ownership would be beneficial,” said Kupper, whose current lease has seven years left.

An executive with Archon Group, the Goldman Sachs subsidiary that owns the center, could not be reached.