Conejo Valley’s Commercial Property Market Shows Strong Rebound : Economy: Area spearheads increased real estate activity in Ventura County, company says. Demographics and seismology have helped.

Buoyed by demographics and the economic aftershocks of the Northridge earthquake, the Conejo Valley’s commercial real estate market is leading the way in a re-emerging Ventura County, members of a national real estate firm said Thursday.

Vacancy rates for office buildings in Thousand Oaks have dropped substantially from peaks reached during the recent recession. And several new, high-volume stores, including Barnes & Noble books and Best Buy electronics, will soon call the city home.

Bruce A. Boring, a senior marketing consultant with the Grubb & Ellis real estate firm, said the market for retail real estate in the Conejo Valley is “healthier than it was before the recession.”

The Thousand Oaks area stood out in the company’s midyear assessment of commercial real estate activity throughout Ventura County. During a news conference Thursday, company officials described a countywide market that had been shrouded in doubts about the future of the Point Mugu naval base but now stands poised for increased activity.

The vacancy rate for office space throughout the county is currently 15.1%, down from 27% at the end of 1990. For retail space, the vacancy rate has dropped from a high of 10% in the second quarter of 1991 to 8% currently, according to the company.

Market activity has been heaviest in the Thousand Oaks/Westlake area. Retailers look at the area’s demographics, Boring said, and see a community large and affluent enough to support new stores.

Steve Rubenstein, executive director of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the area also draws shoppers across the Los Angeles County line. They started coming when the Northridge earthquake closed shopping centers closer to home.

“The earthquake brought people up here, and they liked it,” Rubenstein said. “People feel more secure up here. The streets aren’t congested. They feel safe shopping here.”

As a result, Thousand Oaks has seen a rising number of commercial development and redevelopment projects, such as the remodeling and expansion of the Janss Mall.

“There’s been a perceptible increase in activity since the beginning of the year,” Mayor Jaime Zukowski said. “The Planning Commission has been busy.”

The earthquake also boosted the local market for office space, said Stephen F. Doll, a Grubb & Ellis office specialist. Companies looking for new lodging after the temblor moved into the area.

That in turn raised rents, making the area more attractive to developers interested in building new office space. Two such projects are currently under construction in Thousand Oaks, Doll said.

Lease rates are rising in western Ventura County as well, Doll said, and could lead to construction. And while the retail market in the western communities lags behind that of the Conejo Valley, several new projects are in the works, including a 50,000-square-foot Best Buy outlet in Oxnard and a proposed Super K store in Ventura.