Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Riverpark Parked

HT to "w" but face it, we all saw this one coming years ago.
Economy delays RiverPark retail center in Oxnard

Ventura County Star reports:
Work on The Collection — which will include a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, a 16-screen Century Theatres cineplex and an REI store — has slowed, reflecting the pace of the economy as a whole, said Colm Makem, president of Shea Properties, the developer.

“We’ve moved the opening to the fall of 2010,” Makem said Monday. “Basically to reflect the slowdown in the economy and that’s why you’re seeing a slowdown in the construction.”

The company, which has other commercial and residential developments in California, Arizona and Colorado, has had to adjust work on those projects as well. The hope is the opening of The Collection will correspond with the upturn in the economy.

“We own a lot of real estate and we’re trying to pace the development with the economy,” Makem said. “Most economic forecasts are showing a turnaround in 2010.”
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Another Oxnard Albatross. Backgrounder from 2003 ArchNewsNow.

18 comments:

Sweet Cashback said...

First to wish everybody a happy Bastille Day !!!

w said...

It would make an awesome photo essay to go through Oxnard and photograph 50 years of neglected retail developments leading up to Riverpark.

Street corner after street corner of bargain stores, empty anchors, and massage parlors.

What I don't know is how can this be avoided?

Peripheral Visionary said...

Rob, Buiter weighs in on California; I don't think you will be surprised to find that his outlook is bleak.

From direct democracy to direct federal financial rule in California (Willem Buiter, FT)

And are you planning on keeping up the daily updates? They're interesting, but given that the IOUs are "working", I think the impetus for change has considerably lessened, and the current situation could continue for months until it inevitably blows up.

Unknown said...

Whole Foods - REI?
First non pc thought after seeing the anchors ...
Did not know there were that many vegan campers in the 'Nard

Peripheral Visionary said...

Grocery stores make for solid anchors; they drive reliable traffic, and they're essential for a healthy neighborhood. The problem, of course, is Whole Foods, which is too much of a specialty retailer; they do better when there are already other established brands like Safeway, CostCo, etc.

averagerainfall said...

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, Casey dresses like a campy homosexual and then slathers himself in mud.

I'm sure his parents are proud.

Lou Minatti said...

Work on The Collection — which will include a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, a 16-screen Century Theatres cineplex and an REI store

All detritus from a prior age. It's a mall for products that are no longer in demand.

Rob Dawg said...

Lou, you have no idea. There's a 16 half a mile west. There's a big Edwards 12 5 miles east and a city subsidized downtown 14 2 miles south.

w said...

Oxnard is stoked though, because it can divert sales taxes from Ventura by building Riverpark on the border.

Some guy on VCStar got all bothered saying that REI has a huge following of 9,000 members in Ventura County. I guess that if they each buy $500 a year in image enhancement REI can cover the rent. I pulled that number out of my ass, but would be interested to know what kind of rent would be normal for a store like this.

Rob Dawg said...

My REI member card is like 30 years old. I'll have to get it updated.

Riverpark has failed to reach critical mass. It just a matter of what form the FAIL takes and how long.

Pleather Murse said...

Return of the 125% mortgage

Controversial 125 per cent mortgages are being offered again by Britain’s biggest building society.

After they disappeared from the books of most reputable lenders in the wake of the credit crunch, the Nationwide has re-introduced the deals for existing customers trapped in negative equity who want to move.

Ray Boulger at mortgage broker John Charcol described it as a “really consumer-friendly move”.

But Nick Hopkinson, director of repossessions specialist Property Portfolio Rescue, said: “The offer amounts to assisted financial suicide for today’s borrowers – sheer madness for both them and the lender.

“I expect the purpose of this latest offer is more of a marketing stunt than a feasible product, as the loan criteria and small print will make it almost impossible to access – wasting everyone’s time with false hope.”

Nationwide said existing customers in negative equity would be offered its 95 per cent loan-to-value deals, with rates of 6.73 per cent fixed for three years or 7.48 per cent fixed for five years, with the additional borrowing – up to another 30 per cent – at 7.23 and 7.98 per cent respectively.

http://tinyurl.com/mby83s

Lou Minatti said...

Lou, you have no idea.
Sure I do. We have the same crap here. We're saturated with it, just like every other town.

Commercial RE is in much worse shape than residential. You know that there are strip shopping centers built here in the 1980s that were never occupied except maybe by a convenience store? Over the past 5 years they multiplied the inventory of never-to-be-occupied strip centers.

Jean ValJean said...

So... totally unrelated to this post, but still dealing with finances...

A friend and I are going to open online trading accounts, since we both have a couple of grand to invest. I am looking at OptionsXpress, since they consistenly rate #1 for online trading.

Any comments or suggestions from you sage folks?

Bob said...

JVJ:

I haven't had any problems with Optionsxpress -- they've never screwed up a trade and the price is right. However, I only make a few trades a year and have never used any other online broker, so my experience is limited.

Peripheral Visionary said...

I've used Interactive Brokers in the past, which is excellent, but more oriented toward full-time day traders. Its interface is not as user-friendly as others, but much more information rich. Commissions are very competitive, and they specialize in options and futures. The only issue may be their minimum account size, which may be higher than what you have available.

Peripheral Visionary said...

@Lou: Sure I do. We have the same crap here. We're saturated with it, just like every other town.

Actually, we have the opposite problem in much of the District of Columbia: not nearly enough retail. Too few grocery stores, and a shortage of restaurants, even in the downtown. I believe that most of the cash businesses left the District during its crime peak in "The Marion Barry Years", and have been slow to return.

The first Target in the District was a major event; unfortunately, the neighborhood it went into is still a dangerous one, as they put in the new retail but didn't get around to removing the public housing (oops.) Unfortunately, the perception of the District is such that business owners are reluctant to move into even genuinely safe neighborhoods, and we have storefronts in Northwest (crime rate well below the national average) that have been empty for years. Of course, byzantine building codes, corrupt local government, and high taxes don't help. But there are times when I wish we had too much retail rather than too little.

TJandTheBear said...

Jean,

Check out ThinkorSwim -- hard to beat!

Jean ValJean said...

Thank you Lex, PV. TJ: I'll take at look at it. Thank you as well.