Dual-Hotel Mian Plaza Takes Shape in Camarillo

 Across from Camarillo Premium Outlets, tractors and crews work on the expansive commercial brainchild of developer Tahir Mian. 

“I’m like a little kid at heart,” said the Camarillo resident, who goes by “T.M.” Mian. “I look at the construction site and it excites me.” 

Construction began in August 2019 on the upcoming Mian Plaza and Conference Center of Camarillo. The Spanish colonial revival-style project near the 101 on-ramp at Las Posas Road will feature hotels, restaurants and meeting spaces by late 2023. 

Among the Mian Plaza’s components: a 122-room Home2 Suites by Hilton and a four-story, 155-room Embassy Suites; a 17,500 square-foot, 750-seat conference center; 10,450 square feet of retail storefronts; 15,500 square feet of restaurants; and an adjacent parking lot with 651 spaces. 

The Home2 Suites by Hilton, which is currently going up in Phase I, covers 80,000 square feet while the Embassy Suites – due in Phase II later this year – will cover 200,000 square feet. 

City land

The project came about, Mian said, because the city of Camarillo wanted it. 

“There is more demand in Camarillo for a conference center,” he said. 

Mian Development Corp., the Dallas real estate firm which Mian originally started to build multifamily properties, is spearheading the ambitious project on parcels purchased by the city of Camarillo a decade ago. 

Camarillo has long discussed the possibility of building such a complex, hoping to capitalize on local demand for meeting space and overflow business traffic from the western San Fernando Valley and Ventura County as well as usage by nearby California State University – Channel Islands for academic conferences and scholastic events. 

Per the developer’s agreement with the city, Mian first had to create a water channel – price tag: $6 million – which Mian called “a beast” to install underground. Then, he imported 30,000 cubic yards of soil for the project. Utilities have been re-organized underground. 

“They are moving fast,” Mian said of the latter. “I can’t believe (the progress).” 

Mian said his one-two punch of placing two tiers of hotel brands opposite each other is not without precedent in the region. Mian Development erected the Hilton Garden Inn and the Homewood Suites by Hilton opposite each other in neighboring Oxnard. When one hotel has too many bookings, the other absorbs the overflow. 

“Both complement each other,” Mian said. “That’s the reason we’re doing the same thing in Camarillo.”