Leasing Efforts Pay Off for 1000 Town Center

The hallways are no longer empty in Oxnard’s 1000 Town Center, the green glass office building that ran into financial trouble soon after its completion in 1991.

The 110,000-square-foot structure was only 41% occupied when it was sold last December by Citicorp, which had taken possession from the project’s developers.

The new owner, Bedford Property Investors Inc., a Lafayette, Calif.-based real estate investment trust, has just capped an aggressive leasing campaign by announcing that 1000 Town Center is now 98% occupied.

“The improved economy may or may not have been a factor,” says Roger Galassi, Bedford’s vice president of asset management. “Mainly, I’d credit a strong leasing effort. We responded promptly to all inquiries, and we were ready to make any modifications required by prospective tenants.”

Three new tenants--a dental group, a group of accountants, and a public relations firm--have just taken a total of 11,000 square feet of the six-story building overlooking the Ventura Freeway. Last May, Bedford leased 50,000 square feet to Kinko’s Service Corp., parent of the worldwide Kinko’s chain of copying centers.

Galassi insists that the real estate investment trust made no unusual concessions to corral the tenants. “Basically, the leases were priced at the market.”

Bedford paid $5.1 million for 1000 Town Center, whose original development cost was estimated at about $19 million. “As you can imagine, we’re highly pleased with the investment,” Galassi noted.

Bedford, which specializes in commercial and industrial properties throughout the West, has recently been offered several other buildings in Ventura County, Galassi disclosed.

“We’re interested in Southern California, including Ventura County, but we probably won’t buy the other buildings we’ve heard about in the county,” Galassi said.