Esplanade Mall Is Sold to San Francisco Firm

A San Francisco company with experience in mall ownership and operation has purchased the struggling Esplanade mall, it was announced Thursday.

During his state of the city address, Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said M & H Realty has purchased the mall from the Scheidt family of San Francisco.

Details of the sale were not provided.

Lopez delivered his annual address before the Greater Oxnard Chamber of Commerce.

The Esplanade, which pumped $700,000 a year in sales taxes into the city budget, had been on the block for some time.

While Lopez was upbeat in his message, the year just ended presented several blows to the Oxnard economy. First was the continuing slide of the Oxnard Factory Outlet.

Then on Oct. 20, the Robinsons-May store at The Esplanade closed. That month, Sears Roebuck & Co. closed its store at The Esplanade--and both retailers headed across the Santa Clara River to open new stores at the Pacific View Mall in Ventura.

The third hit was the closure of AutoNation USA’s local mega store last month, which meant the termination of 90 people and the loss of $400,000 in sales tax revenue from city coffers.

The future of the auto dealership site is looking up, Lopez said. Mike Wallace Ford and Team Nissan are said to be ready to move in.

What will happen to The Esplanade has yet to be determined.

No tenants have been announced to replace Robinsons-May and Sears. The stores accounted for about one-third of the mall’s annual sales tax revenue, said Richard Maggio, Oxnard’s community development director.

There was no comment Thursday from the sellers of the 650,000-square-foot mall.

In July, Kurt Scheidt, a co-owner of The Esplanade, said: ‘We don’t know if we will tear it down or use what we have.”