Preview: Camarillo Rising

Camarillo is kind of like Ventura County’s middle child, bypassed by housing and retail developers for its bigger, denser neighboring cities to the east and west. But with about 1,600 housing units under construction or scheduled to come on the market in the next five years, along with more than 500,000 square feet of retail space, fortunes have shifted for the city. A new highway interchange provides quick access to hitherto-vacant parcels and land use changes have freed more land for development. As a result, builders who have been sitting on entitled projects are starting to dig. Camarillo stands to get so many new homes, townhomes and apartments that they will expand its current residential inventory by 6 percent. Comstock Homes is one developer whose interest in the city peaked in light of the changes. The El Segundo developer bought 43 acres in 2014 about a quarter mile from the city’s Springville Drive off ramp to Highway 101 that were already entitled. The company is building 315 homes and townhomes. An additional 60 affordable-income apartments are under construction there by another builder. Since pre-sales of its homes began in February, Comstock has sold 14 and nearly 280 people came to its mid-April open house to see the models. “We have a strong interest, and our interest list is growing,” said Lisa Harkson, sales manager for the new communities, named Elacora. “Camarillo is a small, quaint town, and it’s a desirable place to live. It has easy access to the freeway and it’s right in the middle of Santa Barbara and L.A.” Read the full story in the May 2 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.