Promenade to Get Some Parking Relief

The parking crunch at the Promenade at Westlake, notorious throughout the Conejo Valley since the shopping center opened to huge crowds in November, may soon become easier to deal with.

Developer Rick J. Caruso has purchased one acre from neighboring GTE just behind the Mann 8 movie theater. The site will add 120 parking spaces to the popular, but often gridlocked, $40-million outdoor mall.

Because the City Council had allowed Caruso to get by with 130 fewer spots than city codes required when it approved the shopping center, the new spaces essentially bring the Promenade up to Thousand Oaks’ standard level. It will now have 1,230 parking spaces, according to the developer.

As Caruso is first to admit, that may still not be enough to end all future parking snafus at the Promenade.

“Two things have impacted the parking: It’s a popular center, and people stay longer than they do at other malls. Those are great problems to have.

“I hope it’s the end of it,” he added. “But by the same token, my commitment has not changed. If there is still a parking problem, we will continue to look for ways to solve it.”

In addition to the new parking area, which is under construction, the Promenade’s final two buildings have been completed, adding 80 spaces next to the Bristol Farms gourmet supermarket. But the new wing, which includes a California Pizza Kitchen restaurant, will very likely draw even more people to the shopping center.

Caruso also announced he is purchasing a 15,000-square-foot office building next to the shopping center on Westlake Boulevard, best known for its largest tenant, Coldwell Banker.

Escrow should clear within the week, Caruso said. He said he will then refurbish the building, which will be renamed the Promenade Court to give it the “European flavor” of the Promenade. Its 80-space parking lot will be connected to the Promenade’s, and shoppers will eventually be allowed to park on parts of it at night, Caruso said.

Sitting beside the Promenade’s fountain area Thursday afternoon, Odette Nicholson and Ellen Droshe, both teachers at the Conejo Valley Unified School District, expressed opposing views on the center’s parking problem.

But both agreed that more parking can only help matters.

“I’ll tell you, I usually don’t even come over here because of the parking,” said Droshe, a Newbury Park resident. “It’s a joke.”

“Yeah, but you just learn not to come over here at certain times,” countered Nicholson, who lives in Westlake.

“It’s still a very pleasant mall, very European. It’s a wonderful place to have a coffee.”