Editorial: Reinventing Channel Islands Harbor
It is telling that in any recitation of landmarks at Channel Islands Harbor the emphasis is on the word “former.” The former Casa Sirena Hotel. The former Lobster Trap restaurant. The former Whale’s Tail restaurant.
All of these establishments were once among Ventura County’s top hospitality and dining attractions. The first two have been demolished, the third stands forlornly vacant.
Among the most common adjectives for one of the harbor’s remaining attractions, Fisherman’s Wharf, is the word “dilapidated.”
It’s not a pretty sight, and it is one that is hard to imagine given what would seem to be the intrinsic appeal and value of waterfront property in Southern California.
The encouraging news is that the Oxnard area seems to have a knack for reinventing itself. The former Western-themed attractions at north Oxnard’s Wagon Wheel area have been transformed into a residential village that now boasts more than 1,000 new apartments and condominiums, with another 1,500 on their way.
And now, after a false start in which a land-used disagreement between the county of Ventura and the city of Oxnard derailed plans for residential development, the process of reinventing Channel Islands Harbor is underway. A visioning process has been completed and actions are being taken.
The county of Ventura, which owns the harbor, is in exclusive negotiations with a developer to renovate the Whale’s Tail. A repair of the rock revetment is being undertaken to make way for construction of a Hyatt House Hotel at the former Casa Sirena site — a project that will include a restaurant of at least the same size as the Lobster Trap.
Toward the beginning of the new year, the Board of Supervisors will be asked to weigh in on the third component of this potential transformation: the remaking of Fisherman’s Wharf.
The 10-acre retail center with its Cape Cod-style buildings opened in the late 1970s and never quite reached its imagined potential. It foundered after its original developer, the late Oxnard real estate icon Martin V. Smith, sold off his interests in 1995. Today, about half its units are vacant.
The county’s Harbor Department has recommended to the board that it be allowed to enter into exclusive negotiations with a development group that proposes to convert the property into an attraction to be called Karl’s Adventure Village.
Modeled after seven similar projects the developer operates in Germany, it would integrate attractions for children such as bumper boats and a water slide into a village that would also include shops and restaurants. Some of the existing buildings would be renovated and remain.
This proposal was selected over other, more traditional retail-based proposals. Notably, the other proposals either included or did not rule out some residential components — an element that the city of Oxnard, which must give its approval, does not support.
Harbor Director Michael Tripp said the recommendation is based on a variety of factors, not the least of which is its potential to provide affordable amenities that could be enjoyed by families of a range of economic circumstances.
Could something called an “adventure village” thrive at a prime site that has never lived up to its considerable potential? Perhaps.
The key question supervisors must ask is whether a developer has a track record of sustaining investment in its projects. The land is owned by the county, and business establishments there operate on long-term leases. Those harbor properties that have come and gone bring to mind Warren Buffet’s observation that no one ever washes a rental car — his point being that individuals who don’t own something are not motivated to maintain it over time.
Channel Islands Harbor desperately needs investment and for the property to become the economic asset it always should have been. The last thing it needs is something else that would be destined in our lifetimes to become known as “the former.”
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Editorial: Reinventing Channel Islands Harbor
