Local Focus Works for Daly

Among Valley developers where industry gorillas such as Caruso and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield set the gold standards on retail and residential, Daly Group stands out as a scrappy independent that has found another formula for success. While the Westlake Village developer is looking at a project in downtown Los Angeles, its primary focus is millennial-friendly mixed-use in Ventura County. None of the projects that the firm has undertaken thus far is more than 25 miles away from its Westlake Village offices, and all lie north of the 101 freeway. “I know the decision-makers, the land-owners, the land-sellers,” Chief Executive Vince Daly said of his preferred niche. The developer is building Ventura’s KalThom, which draws inspiration from Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone. When the Daly Group established the 24-unit apartment complex Santa Clara Courts in downtown Ventura in 2016, three of those units — street-level studios — proved surprisingly popular. “There was a line out the door for those three studios,” Daly said. Daly is very optimistic about KalThom, at Kalomara Street and Thompson Avenue. The project is due in late 2020. “It’s going to be amazing and is totally exceeding expectations,” Daly said. Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone is an area between the beach and the 101 freeway filled wine tasting rooms, cafes, art galleries, surf shops and contemporary restaurants. The buildings consists of old warehouses converted to retail. Daly hopes to capture the same feeling in downtown Ventura. For his apartment project, Daly was able to raise the density from 24 units to 45 units by reducing the size of the apartments. In the city of Ventura, “you don’t need big units – you need to be efficient,” he said. “They’re into how much does it cost per month and is it a great location. We’re creating a rooftop deck and some storage to keep your surfboards and kayaks.” For the project, Daly consulted with his son Spencer Daly, who recently graduated SIARC (Southern California Institute of Architecture) and lives in downtown Los Angeles. “My son has been absolutely instrumental in saying, ‘This is how we live,’ whether it’s for the young millennials or the young at heart. He said, ‘Dad, it’s about location, don’t over ammenitize the building, put it in the right place where the location is the amenity.’ They like experiences over stuff but there’s good stuff in there,” Vince Daly explained. Moorpark renewal The city of Moorpark has entered an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Daly Group on approximately 2 acres of city-owned property in downtown Moorpark that will soon see the rise of High Street Depot.With a 2021 completion date circled, Daly’s mixed-use project at 192 High St. is promising to deliver 91 sound-proofed luxury units next door to Moorpark’s Metrolink station, plus ground-floor retail and restaurants, coffee shops and beer vendors, and a prefacing public space called the Village Green. Moorpark City Manager Troy Brown recognizes the historical significance of what Daly considers his magnum opus. “This is the first mixed-use project that has been proposed on High Street,” Brown said, “and, if approved, would add unique commercial spaces that will activate High Street and bring in much-needed housing units to help the city achieve its housing targets identified in the our general plan.” By all accounts, Daly incorporated community input from public meetings last year to help his architect fine-tune the development. “Authentic” was the word that emerged. For the Daly Group, that means architectural flourishes such as incorporating the exact colors and materials of the old train depot and red brick from the fire station across the street. “Westlake Village has its hub, but Moorpark has its own personality,” Daly told the Business Journal. “They’ve got their own vibe.” “Daly has assembled very good team to work with the city,” Brown said. “They have a longtime Moorpark resident serving as their project architect (Mark DiCecco of Moorpark’s DiCecco Architecture Inc.), which is extremely beneficial.  Having someone who knows the community, and understands the nuances of what the community interests are benefits both the Daly Group and the city.” Expanding portfolio In just a few short years, the Daly Group will have built a substantial portfolio of multifamily properties. Joining Daly’s existing properties such as Coastal, a 2018-built complex with 101 apartments and 70-assisted in Oxnard; and Citrus I, a 2014-erected, 54-apartment structure in the agricultural Saticoy neighborhood of Ventura, the Daly Group will eye 2020 completion dates for the 45-unit Kalthom in Ventura; another 72 units in Moorpark called Channel Islands, and Lupe’s, a 36-apartment mixed-use complex in Thousand Oaks with two restaurants occupying 5,000 square feet. For Citrus I, Daly convinced landowner Frank Naumann, namesake of Naumann Road, to sell him a 100-year-old family property surrounded by developments. “What I did there was a little interesting. That whole part of town circa ‘60s and ‘70s apartments, they don’t have what people are looking for,” Daly said. “I brought in an architect from Playa Vista (KTGY) and we gave everyone an outdoor place, we reduced the unit size by about 30 percent, and we got rent 30 percent higher than our neighbhors.” While Daly was able to establish 54 apartments at Citrus I in 2014, marking the start of his company’s multifamily mission, Daly has run into bureaucratic red tape en route to two sequels, the 78-unit Citrus II and the 43-apartment Citrus III, that will delay these neighboring buildings until at least 2020. There were “so many delays that construction costs went up about 30 percent,” Daly said. “The city was going through issues of growth control and water,” Daly said on why the city took so long. “(Because Saticoy is a lower-income area), we couldn’t rely on raising the rents and the project (has become) a risk.” Daly will only say that he and the city are currently trying to reach a solution that will not compromise the project, while Yolanda Bundy, chief of Building and Safety for the city of Ventura, told the Business Journal, “I understand that frustration, specifically the cost. The city of Ventura does have entitlement process and planning process. We’re working toward finding solutions to expedite process that has been (dragging).” Bundy, whose background is in engineering, appreciates Daly’s professionalism. “He takes pride about what he’s building,” Bundy said. “He’ll tell you his story, he started in construction, he started from the bottom.” Soaring beyond SOAR  Daly doubles down on multifamily because “in Ventura, after the SOAR curb, there’s a real pent-up demand. Vacancy rates are essentially zero.” Meanwhile, big box has run its course. “Shopkeepers want the smaller shops,” Daly noted. “People are working in more group settings, common settings. Commercial flex space, retail/restaurant is really the way of the future.” Bundy has known Daly since 2011. “One of the things that is working in his favor is that he’s hands-on,” she said. “(At meetings), he introduces himself. He’s very humble, he’s very attentive.” Said Daly, a Chicago native and Thousand Oaks resident since 1993, “I live here, I’ve raised my family of four here, I really love the lifestyle here.” Despite the long shadow SOAR has cast on the region, Daly sees much promise in Ventura County and dreams of in-filling around transit areas in Simi Valley, Oxnard and Camarillo. “There is enough opportunity for the rest of my career,” Daly said. “I’m trying to build places where people will stay awhile.”