Council Expected to OK Shopping Center

The City Council is expected on Tuesday to overwhelmingly approve a commercial development that would bring a 10- to 12-screen movie theater, stores, restaurants, a science center and a 1.1-acre pond near City Hall.

Officials hope the latest Thousand Oaks project by Caruso Affiliate Holdings of Santa Monica will eventually bring in additional retail revenue while serving as a sound, long-term investment.

But a coalition of Thousand Oaks business owners is concerned the city has given away too much to the developers with no guarantee of financial success.

The city’s redevelopment agency would spend $12.2 million, which includes the price to buy the land, and lease the land to Caruso for 55 years.

Paul Burns, owner of Burns-Pacific Construction Inc. on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, said he doubts the city will see a return on its investment any time soon.

“I feel it’s a bad fiscal decision,” he said. “It could go to the redevelopment of Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Put the $5 million into trees and bushes . . . The shopping center isn’t going to improve the whole community.”

Several business owners in Thousand Oaks have said they will attend the council’s meeting Tuesday and speak out against the project.

According to the lease agreement, the city may receive 20% of Caruso’s tenant fees, providing the developer is realizing at least a 12% profit margin. It may take five to 10 years before the city sees financial return on the center, said Jim Friedl, the city’s deputy manager.

Burns and others have said the city’s price charged to Caruso Development to lease the land--$8.40 per square foot--is well below the current market value in Thousand Oaks, about $22 a square foot.