Carden Conejo Moves Into the Former La Reina Campus: What Families Should Know

If you are weighing a home purchase around the Carden Conejo new campus, the number that matters most is four. That is the length, in years, of the lease Carden signed on Aug. 5, 2024 for the former La Reina campus on Janss Road, with one optional year beyond it. Everything else about this move, the bigger facilities, the shift from Westlake to central Thousand Oaks, the sensitive history of the La Reina closure, sits downstream of that timeline. Here is what families and buyers should actually know.

Where is the Carden Conejo new campus and when did the school move?

Carden Conejo now lists its address as 106 W. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, the campus that housed La Reina High School and Middle School for nearly six decades. The school describes the location as minutes from The Oaks Mall and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, which places it squarely in the city's central corridor rather than on the Westlake side where it operated for four decades.

The relocation was planned for the start of the 2025/26 school year. Carden, founded in 1971, is an independent, nonsectarian private school serving preschool through fifth grade, with roughly 160 students as of August 2024. It operates as a nonprofit, and its stated mission is to prepare students for academically demanding secondary schools. For a side by side look at how it compares to other options, see our rundown of every private school in the Conejo Valley.

The practical upgrade is significant. Board chair Nasi Peretz was blunt about the old campus: no gym, no multipurpose room, no robotics lab. The La Reina site was built for a middle and high school program, so a small elementary school inherits facilities it never had. Peretz has said the cost difference versus the prior lease is "not huge," though the school has not disclosed its rent.

How long is Carden Conejo's lease at the La Reina campus?

The lease runs four years with an option for one additional year. The landlord is the Sisters of Notre Dame, the religious order that owns the property and sponsored La Reina. The Sisters were explicit that they would consider only a short to midterm lease, and they held discussions only with schools that contacted them directly, not with brokers. Carden's board chair said at least three other entities were in contention; the Sisters made their decision within about ten days of the final agreement.

Jenniffer Deckard, the order's chief finance and administrative officer, said the Sisters "hoped for an organization with a track record of success that would bring stability to both our campus and the surrounding community." Stability for four to five years is real. Stability beyond that is not yet defined, and the Sisters have not publicly stated what happens to the property after the lease ends.

Why did Carden Conejo leave its Westlake campus?

Carden did not choose to leave so much as it ran out of lease. The school had occupied a campus owned by the Conejo Valley Unified School District on Evenstar Avenue since 1984. On Dec. 14, 2021, the CVUSD board voted 5 to 0 not to renew or reassign that lease, which expired in July 2025. The district cited the retirement of the school's owners; a nonprofit board was formed solely to secure a new lease, and negotiations with the district were described as sometimes tumultuous over the following year. This was not the first scare. As far back as 2016 the district had floated not renewing Carden's lease while it reconsidered its own long planned Janss Road campus.

When La Reina announced in January 2024 that declining enrollment had eaten into its reserves and the all girls Catholic school would close at the end of that school year, Carden moved quickly. "We reached out the minute we heard it was going to be empty," Peretz said.

That speed is part of why the subject remains sensitive locally. La Reina's closure shocked many in Thousand Oaks, and local reporting has raised questions about timing: a La Reina administrator confirmed in writing that Carden representatives toured the campus in summer 2023, six months before the closure announcement. Officials from both schools have denied that any lease discussions took place before the closure was announced. Anyone touring the campus as a prospective Carden family should understand that history and treat it with respect; a lot of La Reina alumnae still live here.

What does the move mean for Thousand Oaks home buyers?

Three things, in order of importance.

First, do not buy for permanence. A family choosing a house to be close to the Carden Conejo new campus is buying proximity to a lease that ends in the 2028/29 school year, or 2029/30 with the option. Buy a home that works regardless of where Carden is in 2030. That means weighing the public attendance area too, which you can research school by school on GreatSchools, and thinking ahead to secondary options with our ranking of Conejo Valley high schools.

Second, the "near Carden" search zone moved. For four decades that zone was the Westlake side of Thousand Oaks. It is now central Thousand Oaks around Janss Road, The Oaks Mall and the Civic Arts Plaza, which also shifts freeway access and daily routines for existing families; our guide to the commute from Conejo Valley to LA covers how those approaches differ. Central Thousand Oaks also puts families closer to the kid friendly spots we recommend most.

Third, two campuses are now in play, not one. The Janss Road property has a landlord who deliberately chose a short to midterm tenant. The Evenstar Avenue campus is a district owned site that CVUSD declined to re-lease to Carden and had previously considered reclaiming. Neither has a publicly announced long term plan. Owners on the Westlake side who are thinking about timing a sale should read our 2026 Thousand Oaks seller guide and watch CVUSD board agendas for what comes next at Evenstar. Parcel details for either site are public through the Ventura County Assessor.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Carden Conejo New Campus