SANTA PAULA : City Poised to Lease Unocal Museum

After nearly one year of negotiations with the Unocal Corp., the city of Santa Paula is poised to take over the landmark Unocal Oil Museum in an agreement that allows the city to lease the museum for 15 years.

Under terms to be reviewed Monday by the Oxnard Redevelopment Agency, Unocal will retain ownership of the building that served as the company’s first headquarters in 1890.

But the city would lease the museum for $1 a year so it can keep the popular attraction open. After 15 years of operation, the city would have an option to extend the lease for another 15 years, said Santa Paula City Administrator Arnold Dowdy.

“The building has been a landmark for well over 100 years,” Dowdy said. “Thank goodness we were able to get the redevelopment agency to keep the museum open.”

Located in the center of the city’s downtown, the museum is part of the city’s plans to revitalize the downtown area, Dowdy said.

In 1990, Unocal invested $2.5 million to renovate the museum, which attracted 43,000 visitors over the next two years. The building, constructed with Sespe sandstone, river rock and locally fired brick, is a national and county historical monument.

If Unocal sold the museum, the company would forfeit an estimated $250,000 in tax credits for renovating the historic structure, company spokesman Barry Lane said Thursday. But he stressed that money was not a consideration.

“This building is part of the company’s heritage, where we were founded,” Lane said. “We wanted to keep it in the family.”