A vacant lot sandwiched between Musashi restaurant and the Simi Valley Town Center will soon be the home of a new retail marketplace.

The Simi Valley Planning Commission unanimously approved a request last month to build a 1 4 , 7 0 0 square foot commercial retail center at 1747 Simi Town Center Way on unoccupied land that sits just west of Musashi.

Simi residents Steven and Linda Manios own the property.

Designed by R.M. Designs, a Simi-based residential and commercial building design firm, the new shopping center will feature a Mediterranean style similar to the Town Center.

The one-story building will include concrete brown tile roofing elements on four towers, arched windows with trim, iron railings, decorative lighting and forest green fabric awnings.

According to Robert Matola, president of R.M. Designs, 27 percent of the site will be landscaped— nearly three times as much as the city code requires—and about 25 new and existing trees will be located around the center.

The floor plan of the building can be broken down in various ways that will allow the retail center to house anywhere from three to nine businesses. Matola said at a previous neighborhood council meeting that clothing and jewelry sales companies have already expressed interest in the location.

In addition, some of the suites could be used to accommodate a small coffee shop, a bakery or a sandwich shop. These suites have outside patios and elevated parapets to screen future rooftop equipment.

The commissioners complimented the applicant on the design of the building, calling it “fantastic” and noting that it fits in well with the style of the Town Center.

“It’s a beautiful building,” Commissioner Mary Bibb said. “I appreciate that you gave us so much landscaping.”

But what the commission was most pleased with was the developer’s use of solar panels. The rooftop system of 212 Mitsubishi solar panels will generate almost 60,000 kilowatthours of electricity per year for the building, Matola said. He said that according to Southern California Edison, the average residential home uses 7,000 kilowatt-hours per year.

He added that the use of the panels is equivalent to preventing about 65,000 pounds of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere or planting 1,400 trees.

“I especially like the solar panels; I’d like to see more of that come to the city,” Commission Chair Michael McGuigan said.

The commission was also happy to hear that the parapets would screen rooftop equipment and solar panels so that they would not be visible from the ground or from the homes behind the shopping center.

Commissioner Keith Mashburn expressed some concern that there were too few trash bins for the facility, but staff said the three bins meet code and, if they prove insufficient, additional trash pickups would be scheduled.