Goodbye, oak tree.

PLANNING– Workers place cones on T.O. Boulevard in front of The Lakes shopping center and begin to map where 26 new diagonal parking places will be placed. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers Hello, parking lot.

The replacement of parallel parking spaces and an oak tree in front of The Lakes retail center has begun. Twenty-six angled parking spaces will replace the 16 parallel spaces.

The goal of the $230,000 construction project, which began on Tuesday, is to make the shopping center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard with green grassy hills and refreshing fountains look more like a retail facility than a park.

“It should take about six to 10 weeks,” public works director Mark Watkins said: six weeks for the parking spaces, the next four for landscaping and other enhancements.

The city has a direct monetary stake in whether or not The Lakes succeeds. Caruso Affiliated, owner of The Lakes, is under contract to pay not more than $1 a year rent to its landlord–the city–until it makes a profit greater than 8 percent.

The city of Thousand Oaks spent $77,970 on design costs for the new parking.

But first, the city hired the Concord Group, a San Francisco-based real estate consulting firm, and paid $96,500 to figure out ways to improve business at The Lakes.

The angled parking, a movie theater and a parking structure were among the consultant’s suggestions.

The addition of angled parking at The Lakes has been described as a pilot program for the rest of Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

—Nancy Needham