Developers Pay $100 for Site--With a Catch
Want to buy half a block in downtown Oxnard for $100?
That’s the deal two developers are getting--but there’s a catch. They had to promise the seller, the city of Oxnard, that they’ll build 28 townhouses on the site for low- and moderate-income families.
Partners Dennis Howarth, a Ventura businessman, and David Ball, an Orange County architect, will be required to give the land back if they fail to offer the units at prices ranging from about $94,000 to $127,000 each, according to Alex Herrera, the city’s assistant planner.
The city paid about $1 million in the late 1980s to buy and clear the 1.3-acre parcel between 6th and 7th streets and west of B Street. People who were living in houses and apartments there were relocated. “The area was blighted,†Herrera said. “It had to be cleared so decent housing could be provided.â€
Herrera said city officials, who gave the sale final approval last month, estimate that the land is worth only about $100 to the buyers “when you consider the construction cost and the (sale) prices they’re being held to.â€
He said that the Oxnard Farmers’ Market, currently held on the property, will be moved, and that construction will start early next year.
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