Paseo Camino Real planned for spring
DevelopBy Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

Developers plan to break ground in spring 2008 for a shopping center on the south side of the 101 Freeway along Ventura Boulevard just west of the Home Depot hardware store.

The 499,000 square-feet of shops and restaurants, called Paseo Camino Real, will spread across 45 acres of farmland tucked between the freeway and the Camarillo Airport.

Lead developer Robert Selleck of Selleck Properties has partnered with landowner Robert Pearson to move forward with the shopping center that Selleck said may cost as much as $80 million to develop.

Selleck, a Camarillo resident, said that because the shopping center is in his own hometown his firm has made it a point to work closely with Woodland Hillsbased Poliquin Kellogg Design Group to create a California mission-style shopping center intended to impress shoppers.

"I wanted to make sure it was going to be something that everybody appreciated in terms of appearance and aesthetics," Selleck said.

Selleck and Pearson cleared a major hurdle last month when the Camarillo City Council voted to rezone 31 acres of the development site from light industrial and office space to commercial.

ARTIST'S RENDERING- Paseo Camino Real shopping center, as depicted, will feature more than 450,000 square feet of shops and restaurants on 45 acres just west of Home Depot, south of the 101 Freeway.

The city's Planning Commission approved the project in August.

Last year, the city conducted a traffic study that said the shopping center would not have to wait on construction for the Springville Drive Interchange- a proposed freeway on- and off-ramp between Las Posas Road and Central Avenue.

The interchange would span the 101 Freeway and connect the shopping center with a massive 170-acre housing and commercial development north of the freeway.

Public Works Director Tom Fox said even though the city has obtained all the required permits from Caltrans to build the interchange, financing for the project is not yet set.

The interchange is needed for the 1,500-unit housing unit to move forward, and Fox said the city is waiting for a major real estate development firm to pay for its construction.

Fox said the city has already begun to move forward with a $7 million project to underground utility lines and storm drains along Ventura Boulevard in preparation of the interchange. In total, the city will use some $16 million to help finance the estimated $30 million interchange.

Selleck said that because his shopping center doesn't need the interchange to handle additional traffic, his firm won't be expected to pay for its construction. He said, however, Selleck Properties will pay for a $9 million four-lane extension of Ventura Boulevard from just behind the Home Depot parking lot to Bajo Agua Avenue, about a mile west.

The new road, Fox said, is needed in order for the interchange to be built.

Although Selleck said he's in early negotiations with a number of large retailers, Kohl's department is expected to be one of the center's anchor tenants.

Selleck said he wants to also bring an electronics store, such as Best Buy or Circuit City, and a major bookstore to the center.

"We could see there were certain goods and services that weren't in the community itself, and it seemed that there were a lot of people were having to leave the community to get what they wanted," Selleck said.

Less than a mile east on Ventura Boulevard, the city is still in negotiations with Marriott to build a full-service hotel and conference center on the large empty lot neighboring Edwards Cinemas. The hotel development will include shops and restaurants, as well as the hotel and conference center.

On the opposite side of the movie theater, the Camarillo Premium Outlet Mall is expected to expand another 200,000 square-feet of shops.