Simi Loses a 200-Employee Firm, Gains Another : Business: SoftKat’s plans will offset the loss of Aquaria Inc. to Moorpark in what could highlight growing intercity competition.

A 200-employee software distributor will move from Chatsworth to Simi Valley, making up for Simi Valley’s loss of a 200-employee aquarium manufacturer that plans to move five miles west to Moorpark, Simi Valley officials said Thursday.

SoftKat, a national and international distributor of computer software with more than $100 million in annual sales, has announced that it will move from Chatsworth to Simi Valley about Feb. 1.

Earlier this week, Aquaria Inc., a manufacturer of live-seafood-holding tanks and aquarium filtration equipment, announced that it would move from Simi Valley into a vacant office building in Moorpark early next year.

Aquaria’s decision highlights what could be a growing competition between Moorpark and Simi Valley in the contest for new businesses, according to commercial real estate brokers.

But Simi Valley officials downplayed any competition between the two cities. They said Simi Valley will gain more by getting SoftKat from Los Angeles County than it will lose with Aquaria’s departure to Moorpark.

SoftKat decided to move to Simi Valley mainly for financial reasons. The company needed more space and commercial real estate is about 20% to 30% cheaper in Simi Valley than in the San Fernando Valley, said Bob Kahn, vice president for CB Commercial Real Estate in Sherman Oaks.

SoftKat officials said they are looking forward to having more space when they move from their 72,000-square-foot building in Chatsworth to their new 96,850-square-foot facility on Royal Avenue in Simi Valley.

But some employees will probably quit rather than commute to Ventura County, said Don Helfstein, SoftKat’s vice president of marketing services.

“Some people may not elect to go because of the drive,” he said.

The company’s loss of employees could be Simi Valley’s gain since the openings would present job opportunities to local residents, Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said.

In addition to getting new job openings, Simi Valley will gain when SoftKat employees spend money at local restaurants and stores during their lunch hours and after work.

Such spending “certainly sends a nice ripple throughout the city economically,” Deputy City Manager Jim Hansen said.

In contrast, Aquaria is moving only about five miles, from the west end of Simi Valley to the east end of Moorpark.

Like SoftKat, Aquaria, which has grown from 130 to 200 employees over the past five years, needed more space.

The company will have about 20% more room when it moves to its new 86,000-square-foot facility on Condor Drive in Moorpark.

Unlike at SoftKat, none of the company’s current employees who live in Simi Valley are expected to quit their jobs because of the increased commute, Stratton said.

About 100 Aquaria employees live in Simi Valley, and about 20 live in Moorpark.

“In reality, as far as the employees of our community go, they will still be employed” at Aquaria, Stratton said. “They’re not losing their jobs.”

In addition, he said, because the company’s new location is so close to Simi Valley--which has far more restaurants and shopping centers than Moorpark--many Aquaria employees will probably continue to shop and eat out in Simi Valley.

Stratton also said Moorpark is not a threat to Simi Valley in the contest to attract businesses from outside Ventura County.

“I don’t see Moorpark as competition,” he said, because Simi Valley has more sites available for large corporations.

Kahn said many Los Angeles County companies that have considered relocating to Simi Valley in the past refused to consider moving to Moorpark because “it’s too far.”

But Moorpark will be far more accessible after the Simi Valley-Moorpark Freeway Connector is completed in 1993, he said.

“That’s going to open up Moorpark,” Kahn said.

Carol Hunt, president of the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce, said the city already has a friendly competition with Simi Valley in the hunt for new businesses that will only increase when the freeway connector is built.

“I don’t think it’s negative competition,” Hunt said.