CHANGE IN STORE? : PLAZA FACE LIFT WOULD DISPLACE RETAILERS.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Change is rarely easy.

The owners of the Newbury Park Center say they want to tear down the nearly half-century-old shopping plaza and brighten the area with a new retail and entertainment complex.

Existing tenants, however, fear the renovation would mean higher rents or major disruptions in business, which could force many to find new homes or simply shut down.

``I'll be forced out of business or I'll have to move,'' said Susan Pavlik, owner since 1990 of Susan's Sofa City and Sleep Shop. ``I respect the landlord's rights, but I hate to lose my business, too. This business has been here a long time and we don't know if we'll have adequate space for our business in the new plan.''

Glendale-based Newbury Park Group wants to tear down the old buildings in the 1700 block of Newbury Road to construct a 91,000-square-foot center that would include a nine-screen movie theater, restaurants, a fitness center and other retailers. It would be large enough for up to 25 businesses, according to company officials.

The plan is a revised version of a 119,000-square-foot, two-story office and retail project approved for the site by the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission in 1990. The new proposal would limit construction to one story and eliminate the office space.

The Planning Commission decided May 20 to delay any recommendation about the project to the City Council after commissioners determined that the environmental documents left too many crucial questions unanswered.

Merchants, however, see the delay as offering only extra time for examining their options.

Ara Ohanian, a general partner with Newbury Park Group, has said that the renovation would enable the center's owners to get the most out of their nine-acre property. In addition, it would bring Newbury Park the entertainment and retailers it now sorely lacks.

He also said the center would be constructed in phases over an indefinite time so tenants could be relocated to other parts of the existing property while work is in progress. The extended work would also give them time to find space elsewhere.

Though he'd like many of his tenants to remain, he doesn't plan to negotiate with them until he signs up his new anchor tenants.

``I would like them to stay, because I do have space for them,'' Ohanian said.

But that invitation extends only to retailers. Other, more ``industrial type'' businesses should look elsewhere.

``They're not appropriate for the center,'' he said. ``I can only think of one that is in that situation. The rest would be appropriate - I cannot think of why they would not be at the center.''

Bea Grodell, owner of Graphic Reproductions Center, said she is the industrial concern Ohanian referred to, and she expects to leave before the center's conversion.

``I don't know if anybody in the center has agreed to stay,'' said Grodell, who has owned the print shop since 1963. ``If they do agree to stay, I think they're going to have to move and then move back. I don't think it's going to be an easy transition.''

She is uncertain about the future of her own business. Though space in the city's industrial area would cost her half what she now pays in rent and fees, she can't afford the $50,000 cost of moving to another location.

She's of two minds about the proposed project.

``I think it puts all of us in kind of a bind, and I have always believed if you own a piece of property, you have the right to do certain things to it,'' Grodell said. ``Also, we've been here longer than they have, so I think the tenants should be given some consideration, too.''

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Photo: (color in CONEJO edition only) Susan Pavlik, owner o f Susan's Sofa City and Sleep Shop, is not eager for construction to bump her from Newbury Park Center.

Dusty Locke/Special to the Daily News