Brokers Hope Retail Surge Spreads to 8 1/2-Acre Camarillo Site

For a shopper, the corner of Las Posas Road and Ventura Boulevard in Camarillo could be considered paradise, located as it is adjacent to the Camarillo Premium Outlets and across from the Camarillo Town Center.

But Larry Tanji, a commercial broker for Ventura-based CB Commercial Real Estate Group, is more concerned with what retailers think of the location.

Tanji and fellow broker Reed Henkelman have been selected to represent Samson Investment Co. of Calabasas, which is attempting to sell an 8 1/2-acre commercial property at the intersection located along U.S. 101. The list price for the parcel is $4.6 million.

“The property ties everything together,” Tanji said. “It is a power center.”

Samson Investment purchased the property about 3 1/2 years ago and tried to convert the location into a golf driving range, a plan the city of Camarillo rejected as not commercial enough for the prime retail space, said Mike Minder, president of Samson Investment.

“We feel and the city feels that the property is the link between the two larger commercial developments of the city,” Minder said. “It’s really an important piece of property and we are trying to maximize it.”

The site is the former home of the El Camino restaurant, a liquor store and a gas station. It has been empty since Samson Investment had the two remaining vacant structures leveled about eight months ago.

Tanji has some ideas as to what types of businesses he would like to see fill the lot. He said Minder is negotiating with an oil company to place a gas station on one acre of the property and has had serious discussions with two upscale hotel chains about occupying three acres.

The remaining 4 1/2 acres are left for CB Commercial to market.

“There are certain targets I’m going for that I think the community could use and would be a good fit,” Tanji said. “Our job is to help the community and help the tenants. Tenants don’t want to go into a community where they don’t fit.”

Tanji said he is looking for a state-of-the-art gym or a child-care facility but is not limiting his options.

“Additionally, any sort of retailer that would like to be near the hub of activity” would also be welcome, he said.

That hub consists of the 40-acre Town Center, a 37-store center anchored by a 120,000-square-foot Target store, which opened last October.

Town Center joined Camarillo Premium Outlets, which opened two years ago and, after an expansion last November, now has 83 tenants. The outlet complex is currently at 280,000 square feet, with another 170,000 square feet planned for development.

A multiplex theater, the Edwards Camarillo Palace 12, is next door to the outlet center.

CB Commercial listed the Samson property once before about two years ago. At the time, the outlet mall, then called the Camarillo Factory Stores, was still seeking tenants and Camarillo Town Center had yet to be developed. Tanji said the timing was a little premature.

“We were trying to compete [for retailers] with the Camarillo Factory Stores across the street, and there really wasn’t any way to compete,” he said. “As the pieces have come together at the Town Center and the players are recognized, now is a good time to market this property again.”

Tanji said the success of the larger retail centers is a good selling point for the Samson property.

“Target sales are doing better than projected, the Premium Outlets are doing great numbers and the Edwards theater has really good numbers,” he said. “It’s a proven area.”

Tanji did not estimate when new owners for the property might be found, but he said the next few months should be a good time to attract retailers.

“The best time for hitting retailers is the second or third month of the year,” he said. “Their sales are done, their returns are done and they are working on the roll-out of next year’s store.”