Architectural/Engineering Design & Entitlement Services for Downtown Thousand Oaks - Campus Plan

The Downtown/Campus Master Plan seeks to create the nucleus of the City's downtown by reconfiguring the existing Civic Arts Plaza and developing the vacant City-owned parcel to the west of City Hall. With a combination of public investment and policies, the City intends to catalyze reinvestment by adjacent property owners and revitalize Thousand Oaks Boulevard. The vision for a new downtown was documented in the City's 2018 Downtown Core Master Plan (DCMP). The DCMP outlined several goals:

• Be the “place to go” in the City of Thousand Oaks offer diverse shopping and restaurant options
• Make more entertainment and nightlife choices available
• Contain a variety of uses and gathering places that appeal to people of all ages
• Provide a more attractive and comfortable environment for pedestrians
• Require active pedestrian-oriented uses on the ground floor along the street
• Contain wide sidewalks to allow for outdoor retail/seating
• Offer sufficient and convenient district parking to allow visitors to “park once” to visit multiple businesses

The conceptual plan includes the construction of new public plazas, a food hall/public market, development of a vacant three-acre parcel west of Dallas Drive featuring mixed-use buildings, construction of a new city hall building to enhance service delivery, and adaptive reuse of the existing city hall and tenant spaces for retail storefront, café, and restaurant uses. The current concept also calls for a new interior roadway network, including a new pedestrian-friendly “Main Street” just south of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, traveling the entire length of the Civic Arts Plaza. The project is anticipated to executed in three phases, with portions of each phase running concurrently. The concept visuals are available publicly on the City's website at www.toaks.org/downtown.

In this solicitation, the City is seeking a qualified, multi-disciplinary team to build upon the Downtown-Campus Plan concept that was recently endorsed by the City Council on May 7, 2024. The scope of work will refine the existing concept and prepare the project for entitlement hearings with the Planning Commission and City Council. The scope generally includes planning, entitlement, architectural, civil engineering, and environmental services over the course of an estimated an initial 18-month engagement. The scope of the initial engagement under this solicitation will conclude with a City Council hearing for entitlement for all three phases of the project. Environmental review will be performed by an independent third party.

The City's goal is to entitle the entirety of the Downtown Campus Plan program, including all the mixed-use structures throughout the program. Upon the successful entitlement of the program, the City intends to issue an RFP for a private partner to construct the private, mixed-use portions of the program. The private developer will be responsible for the remainder of the design beyond the 30% design mark, constructing, and operating the mixed-use project.

While the City aims to maintain flexibility for the ultimate developer, this scope will define details of both the public and private components of the program to a 30% design level.

The scope of work also includes follow-on tasks that may be executed via one or more amendments for final design services for the individual components of the Downtown Campus Master Plan. The individual components of the plan may be delivered via one or more construction delivery methods, including but not limited to design-build, and/or design, bid, build. The additional scope of work elements that the selected architect may be engaged by the City for shall be entered into via amendment in the City’s sole and absolute discretion. Such services may include, but not necessarily be limited to preparation of final plans and specifications for competitive bidding and/or preparation of programming/design criteria for one or more design-build projects.

The City of Thousand Oaks is located in eastern Ventura County and consists of 56 square miles. The City population is approximately 127,000. The City is a general law city operating under the Council/Manager form of government. The City Council is comprised of five elected members, with one member serving as Mayor on an annual basis. On July 18, 2023, the City Council adopted an ordinance which will move the City to district-based elections starting in November 2024.