The Diversification of Oxnard

Acres of green strawberry fields are turning into gleaming office parks, and a shiny 14-screen theater complex is replacing dusty parking lots in the rapidly growing Ventura County city.

By Kathy Lee Scott

The seaside Ventura County city of Oxnard is undergoing a major revitalization with new office buildings and movie theaters well under construction, and a $750 million mixed-use project just coming out of the ground.

"Oxnard's a great, diverse community, and a whole lot of people want to live here," said Thomas E. Holden, mayor of the city of 185,000.

The city's $9.8 million parking structure will house a police substation and business improvement office on the first level. There will also be space for retail shops. Stainless-steel mesh shades along the north and east faces of the garage will offer "a spectacular visual effect in the sunlight," said Jeff Hammond, the superintendent for general contractor Barnhart Inc. (photo courtesy of Barnhart Inc.).

Oxnard, the largest city in Ventura County, has a lot going for it: a year-round temperate climate--its annual average temperature is 61 degrees; it's in the center of a vast alluvial plain; and it hosts annual strawberry and salsa festivals. About 108,000 residents lived there in 1980, according to the U.S. Census.

A Place to Park

A 466-space, four-level parking garage at Third and B streets, which was completed in April, is expected to accommodate the increase in vehicular traffic in the city's core.

Lee Sehon of Oxnard-based Channel Islands Building & Development Partners-the representative for the city-owned parking structure--called the 186,000-sq.-ft. garage "architecturally significant."

San Diego-based Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects "created an aesthetic piece [instead of] a utilitarian garage," by using radial speed ramps instead of traditional interior ramps at the ends of each level, Sehon said.

Precast concrete beams and a brick veneer comprise the $9.8 million garage.

"We had to match the existing library," said Rodger Jones, project manager from Barnhart Inc, the general contractor for the garage.

The single-story main library on C Street is just a block away. The library operated from 1963 to 1992 before closing, but the building will soon house city development services offices.

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Another intriguing design element on the garage is the 148 stainless-steel mesh shades along the north and east faces. The shades, each measuring 180 sq. ft., offer "a spectacular visual effect in the sunlight," said Jeff Hammond, Barnhart's site superintendent.

The parking structure also houses a police substation and the city's business improvement office on the first level. Additional retail can be incorporated along the parking structure edges if a market develops for them, said Matthew Winegar, Oxnard's director of development services.

Another Coming Attraction

Visitors to the Oxnard Civic Center will use the new garage, as will future patrons of Plaza Cinemas that is being built a block away.

The 43,578-sq.-ft., 14-screen cinema will offer first-run films, said Neno Spondello, general partner of Ventura Pacific Capital Co. of Camarillo, which owns the cinema and 20,651 sq. ft. of adjoining new retail space.

All the stores will face a plaza that includes a water sculpture, trees, benches and outdoor dining areas.

"The city asked us to develop an entertainment-based project," Spondello said.

His greatest challenge was attracting a theater operator to downtown. But North American Cinemas of Santa Rosa agreed to operate the $18 million complex after Oxnard enacted a 25-year moratorium last year on other multiplexes within city limits.

General contractor PDS Builders of Camarillo began construction in May 2004, and the theater is expected to open next month. The theater's architect is Seattle-based Rob Henry.

New Car Dealership, 'Driving' School

A $5 million Lexus dealership that was completed in May amounted to two projects in one for one stakeholder.

Joe Marca, owner of Escondido-based Marca Architects, said he began designing the Lexus expansion for the owner, DCH Investments Inc. of Oxnard, in 2001, but midway through the project, DCH decided it wanted a larger structure.

"I've essentially done this job twice," Marca added.

Located on Auto Center Drive about 7 mi. from downtown, the 72,000-sq.-ft. masonry-clad showroom will hold vehicles on its concrete roof. Oxnard-based Viola Construction, the general contractor, began the job in February 2004.

Meanwhile, the relocation of Jim Hall Kart Racing Schools from Ventura to an 8-acre site on Challenger Place near Discovery Drive, in Oxnard's eastern industrial section, should be complete this summer.

Kart Racing was forced to move due to an extensive wetlands restoration on its former site.

"We should be open in mid-summer," said owner Jim Hall.

Hall's company instructs adults and older children how to safely drive racing carts in individual or group sessions.

Most of the project's $500,000 cost will be spent on crushed rock and concrete powder, natural-road track with up to 14 turns.

Santa Paula-based D.L. Stines Construction Co. had to deal with a high water table and flooding due to heavy winter rains before it finished grading the track, Hall added.

ADS Architects of Ventura designed the track's observation stand. The classrooms and maintenance bays are being prefabricated off site by Mobile Modular of Mira Loma.

The Big One Gets Started

The largest commercial development, which is just getting started, is the $750 million RiverPark, a 702-acre mixed-use planned development adjacent to the Santa Clara River and Highway 101 on Vineyard Avenue.

Mass grading has begun at the site. Final build-out is not expected for four to five years, said Tony Talamante project manager for RiverPark Legacy LLC, a consortium of Brea-based Shea Homes, Irvine-based Standard Pacific Homes and the Valencia office of Dallas-based Centex Homes.

The latter two firms will construct the residential component, while Aliso Viejo-based Shea Properties will develop the commercial portion of the project.

RiverPark will ultimately include 1.3 million-sq.-ft. of commercial development on 131 acres, 2,800 residences (392 affordable), two elementary schools and one intermediate school, and 274 acres of parks and open space.