SIMI PACT REVIVES PLAN TO DEVELOP A REGIONAL MALL.Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer Efforts to build a regional mall in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. are back on track with a tentative tentative, adj not final or definite, such as an experimental or clinical finding that has not been validated. agreement among the city, a developer and the property owners to move the project forward. The proposal calls for Forest City Inc. to pay $25,000 for a minimum one-year adj. 1. completing its life cycle within a year. Adj. 1. one-year - completing its life cycle within a year; "a border of annual flowering plants" annual phytology, botany - the branch of biology that studies plants option to buy 80 acres of mall-designated land north of the Ronald Reagan Freeway between First Street and Erringer Road. If approved by the City Council, the agreement would once again give the mall developer the exclusive right to negotiate with potential tenants once the mall is built, officials said. ``It's important that we have a very qualified developer experienced in mall development, who has knowledge of the property and wants to continue to pursue it,'' said Don Penman, assistant city manager of economic development. ``We will have a developer who is experienced in mall development, who has the contacts in the development field, someone who can represent this property and knows the players that need to come to the table to make this project work.'' Victor Grgas, Forest City's project manager, said his company is pleased with the tentative agreement and that after it is reviewed by attorneys, he believes it will move the project forward. However, Grgas cautioned that attracting anchor stores anchor store n. A large store, such as a department store or supermarket, that is prominently located in a shopping mall to attract customers who are then expected to patronize the other shops in the mall. to the proposed mall is still difficult because of stiff competition and fewer chains to choose from since recent mergers. ``We're as optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op as we can be, given the circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or ,'' he said. ``It really depends a lot on the appetite of certain department stores This is a list of department stores. In the case of department store groups the location of the flagship store is given. This list does not include large specialist stores, which sometimes resemble department stores. for the Simi Valley location.'' However, Grgas said an option agreement giving Forest City full control of the mall-designated land is essential. ``The department stores won't even talk to you until you show evidence of control of the site,'' he said. Forest City decided in December not to pay $50,000 to extend an option agreement with the city for four more months of exclusive negotiation rights. At that time, company officials said $50,000 was a heavy price to pay for a four-month extension. But with a tentative agreement, officials said efforts to attract tenants to a Simi Valley mall have been reinvigorated re·in·vig·o·rate tr.v. re·in·vig·o·rat·ed, re·in·vig·o·rat·ing, re·in·vig·o·rates To give new life or energy to. re , and hope the project will materialize ma·te·ri·al·ize v. ma·te·ri·al·ized, ma·te·ri·al·iz·ing, ma·te·ri·al·iz·es v.tr. 1. To cause to become real or actual: By building the house, we materialized a dream. soon. The construction of a Simi Valley mall has been an elusive goal for many years. Homart Development Co. and Melvin Simon & Associates originally proposed building a 1.5 million-square-foot mall and office complex on the site in 1987, but Homart decided in 1992 not to renew its purchase option on the land, citing bad economic conditions. Since then, the city has looked for other developers to pursue the project, which officials want for residents' shopping convenience and sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. revenues. City Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said City Council support for a regional mall is as strong as ever and predicted little opposition to the tentative agreement. ``The council is all on the same wavelength on this. We want a full-fledged mall that will serve this community,'' she said. ``I think (that) of all the things that the residents of this community want, the most popular is a shopping mall, and if we can bring that to them, then I want to do that. We have the land set aside, it's revenues for our community, and it's something that really could make a difference in Simi Valley.'' Grgas said Forest City is committed to bringing a mall to the city, and although the competition and market conditions are challenging, he believes Simi Valley is a good location. ``Our approach is to sell the project based on the fact that the market area is currently large enough to support a mall, and it has very good demographics The attributes of people in a particular geographic area. Used for marketing purposes, population, ethnic origins, religion, spoken language, income and age range are examples of demographic data. , including excellent income levels,'' he said. CAPTION(S): Map Map: (color) Site for proposed Regional Shopping Mall Daily N ews |
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