Notices appearing on the doors of retailers in Paraiso Town Center in Dos Vientos have informed store owners that management of the shopping center has changed.

A Ventura County Superior Court-appointed receiver has taken over the shopping center after Miller Family Companies, the owner, defaulted Aug. 19 on a $16.8million loan from California National Bank.

Although the 18,000squarefoot retail center opened about a year ago, most of its 33 suites are unrented.

Paraiso Deli closed about three weeks ago. Before then, other tenants had disappeared from the upscale retail center that serves 2,300 homes and 6,000 to 8,000 people in the surrounding community.

Businesses still open at the retail center include a nail salon, a dry cleaner, Indiana Joan’s fashion store, Paraiso Family Dental and Orthodontics and Mama Rita’s Authentic Mexican Cantina.

The Mexican restaurant is a good draw for people outside the retail center’s immediate community, said Thousand Oaks economic development director Gary Wartik.

Reality TV show “Kitchen Nightmares” recently filmed there to help the eatery stay afloat.

“They could use more restaurants like Mama Rita’s to bring people to the shopping center. They don’t have enough critical mass to attract business from outside their community right now,” Wartik said.

Typically, a community shopping center will have a grocery store, a drugstore, a pizza place, a sandwich shop, he said.

“The Miller brothers made a supreme effort to attract quality tenants but could not get the anchor stores they needed,” Wartik said.

He also noted the tenants have complained the rent is above market and there are too many vacancies.

He said the challenge is that the retail center is in an isolated neighborhood.

“They may need to add more professional spaces—dentists, doctors, accountants and lawyers,” Wartik said.

A call to Miller Family Companies didn’t get an immediate response.