PORT HUENEME : Developer Unveils Beach Condo Plan

Port Hueneme’s last undeveloped beach lot could be home to 350 ocean-view condominiums if negotiations by a Westlake developer are successful.

Batta Vujicic, president of Prime West Inc., is negotiating to buy a 12-acre parcel near the Port of Hueneme, the site of a lemon-packing plant that burned 10 years ago.

The property was sold in the 1970s for about $650,000 to the Lane family, said Ed Millan, president of the Board of Harbor Commissioners.

Vujicic and a partner are two in a long line of developers who have tried to buy and develop residences on the lot in the last few years, said Tom Figg, Port Hueneme’s community development director. Price for the land, the city’s only undeveloped beach lot that isn’t part of Hueneme Beach, is about $14 million.

For years, the city has wanted a destination resort there. A large hotel and restaurant would not only generate property taxes but a steady flow of bed and sales taxes. But no developer has stepped forward with a viable plan to meet the city’s desires, Figg said.

At a recent Board of Harbor Commissioners meeting, Vujicic introduced his plan to the Oxnard Harbor District. Vujicic told commissioners that he wants to build a monumental project in a classic Mediterranean style. The condos or flats may climb three to four stories and may include a 2,000-square-foot community meeting hall.

On Monday, Vujicic declined further comment on his proposal but said he may have good news about the sale in two weeks.

The Oxnard Harbor District tried and failed twice during the 1970s to buy the land to expand port operations. The city, which has discretion over the district’s land purchases within city limits, denied the harbor district’s $1.5-million offer to the Lane family, Millan said. When land is purchased by the district, it goes off the city’s tax rolls--a situation that the city tries to avoid, Figg said.

The city’s redevelopment agency holds several parcels adjoining the 12-acre beach site, including a 5,000-square-foot lot in the parcel’s center. The city would probably work with the developer to incorporate the parcels into the project, Figg said.

Part of the future development could mean realigning a stretch of the Ventura County Railroad, which now splits the site in half. City officials have endorsed the idea of realigning the railroad to allow for the site’s full development.

The most recent serious interest in the site came almost two years ago with a plan for a hotel and time-share development, but the deal fell through because of financing problems, Figg said. The city wants to tie the land’s development to revitalizing Hueneme Beach’s west end. Any project would include building a pedestrian promenade along the beach, Figg said.