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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Arts Colony Offers Healing for Palmdale Vets

Palmdale’s homeless veterans will soon have a new housing option with an artistic touch. The city of Palmdale and partners including developers Meta Housing Corp. of Los Angeles and Western Community Housing Inc. broke ground last month on Courson Arts Colony East, an 81-apartment, 2.68-acre complex with an art therapy element for economically disadvantaged families, particularly veterans. The two-building, three-story complex at 10th St. East will include an art gallery, art walk, studios, computer art lab, library, classrooms, dance and fitness studios, clubhouse and a small theater. A shop that repairs wheelchairs and bikes will also be onsite. Mike Miller, director of neighborhood services for Palmdale, said Meta Housing’s plans for the complex include mental health treatment, specialists to assist the veterans and a business that will teach music lessons. The project’s art element will include photography and video as well, he added. “We are not going to just be putting people into housing, but will be treating their lives,” Miller said. “Art is a big component. The city wanted to include something that would bring in the arts.” Veterans will be the preferred residents at the new housing complex, he added. Courson Arts Colony will also include a second residential phase, bringing the value of both to $58 million, Miller said. A new swimming pool at Courson Park is part of the first project but will separately cost about $4 million, he said. Scenic Corridor Twenty-one acres along the scenic Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas that have been the site of three attempts at development are now under construction. Once intended to be the Entrada at Malibu Canyon residential community dating back to 2007, the project has been reduced, redesigned and renamed Paxton Calabasas under a new developer, Blue Marble Development, which has a local office in Calabasas. The site at 4240 Las Virgenes Road has residential housing on two sides, the local water district on another side and open space to its east. It is also a designated city scenic corridor, according to city of Los Angeles planning documents. Blue Marble decided to makes its complex fit the character of the surroundings, said Deidre Waitt, Blue Marble’s president. The company shrunk the density to 78 units spread across 12 buildings from 86 units in three buildings, and will hide the three-story heights by building the back of the townhomes lower than street level. That way, drivers on Las Virgenes Road will see only two stories and front doors, Waitt said. The garages and the third stories can only be seen from behind the buildings. “We did that deliberately for the neighborhood – we wanted it to look commensurate with the surrounding communities,” she added. Units will range from 750 square feet to just under 1,800 square feet. Sixteen acres will remain open space. Blue Marble expects to finish construction before the fall, and unit prices haven’t been determined. On the Market Anjac Studios West, the former Seventh-day Adventist Church’s production facility in Simi Valley bought a year ago by a Hollywood veteran and property owner to lure Hollywood production companies, is back on the market. Steve Needleman, a former TV producer, bought the 120,000-square-foot facility with soundstages, audio recording and editing studios and production offices in May of last year for $11.5 million. It’s now listed for just under $14.8 million. Ron Feder, a broker with Keller Williams Calabasas Real Estate, represented Needleman on the initial purchase, marketed the studios for lease to production companies and now represents Needleman on the sale. “It has been difficult to secure a tenant,” Feder said. “It has some short-term leases, but nothing materialized long-term.” The lease plan was to target Hollywood and Burbank productions at a time when studio space is scarce and content production is increasing. The owner also partnered with a location scouting firm, but that didn’t deliver as expected, he added. “Film, television – we had a blanket marketing campaign,” Feder said. “We had people out (looking at the studio) that had interest, but then just ruled it out based on distance. Rental rate was never an issue.” Needleman has spent $500,000 on repairs and upgrades, Feder added, and $750,000 on interior and equipment upgrades. Staff Reporter Carol Lawrence can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or [email protected].

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