SIMI VALLEY : City to Buy Land in Hope of Luring Mall

A 32-acre Simi Valley hillside property until recently slated for a Wal-Mart will be purchased for $3.5 million by the city of Simi Valley, which hopes to lure developers to build a regional mall.

The Simi Valley Community Development Agency on Tuesday announced that it had reached an agreement with the Lucile Estes Trust to buy the land near the northeast corner of 1st Street and the Simi Valley Freeway.

“Our main thrust was that we wanted to enhance our ability to get a mall,” said Mayor Greg Stratton, who helped negotiate the deal.

The undeveloped land is designated for roads that would lead to the planned mall.

Under the conditions of the agreement, the city will put $2.5 million down and pay the rest over four years.

The City Council next week will decide how to finance the deal.

The property is next to a 126-acre site that the city has set aside for a regional mall.

The city last year tried to buy the property but was outbid by Wal-Mart developers, who planned to erect a store on the site.

When voters last month defeated a measure that would have allowed construction of a Wal-Mart, the city again offered to buy the property.

The city reached the agreement with Estes’ widowed husband, Bill Baker, who served on the City Council from 1978 to 1980.