Long-term planning makes a difference in a real estate market, as evidenced by the building boom underway in Santa Clarita Valley during the first quarter. The bounty of retail, industrial and residential projects underway reflects the original recipe that the valley’s founding entity Newhall Land & Farming Co. baked into the region with its master planned community of Valencia in the 1960s. “The city focuses on maintaining a great balance of quality developments which attract investors, developers, users and residents,” said Yair Haimoff, who recently opened the Valencia-based brokerage Spectrum Commercial Real Estate Inc. Haimoff called Santa Clarita “safe, clean, family-friendly, business-friendly, excellent school districts, and, most of all, the folks that run the city and Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp. do an excellent job to maintain the high quality of Santa Clarita Valley.” Rabid for retail In March, Haimoff and Spectrum colleague Andrew Ghassemi negotiated the sale of a multi-tenant retail property in an all-cash transaction for $2.45 million. Located at 25057-25067 Peachland Ave., the Newhall site, perched on a 23,087-square-foot parcel, was part of a larger shopping center anchored by a Smart & Final, Union Bank and U.S. Postal Service branch. Last month, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield announced plans to transform the former Sears location at Westfield Valencia Town Center into the Patios Connection; a redevelopment of the eastern portion of the property to include Santa Clarita’s first luxury cinema, a full-service health and fitness center, and more specialty brand shops. The community’s second Costco location will anchor the Patios Connection, which sports a budget of $100 million. “Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has seen tremendous success with the addition of Costco to other high-end centers in both California and Maryland,” said Chris Kitchen, vice president of development, in a statement. “We recently conducted a survey at The Village at Topanga (in Woodland Hills) which showed 55 percent of Costco shoppers also visited at least one other destination within the center on the same trip. Today’s shoppers are looking for everyday conveniences in one location.” In 2019’s first quarter, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield will break ground on the Valencia project, which will also add 320 parking spaces atop the new Costco. Eric Wilson, who until recently worked at Westfield and currently serves as vice president of construction at El Segundo-based CenterCal Properties, helped orchestrate the Patios to its 2010 completion, which proved a challenge. “We were coming off of the great financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and we had a hard time leasing up tenants,” the Santa Clarita resident told the Business Journal. Already home to approximately 180 businesses, Westfield Valencia Town Center, a provider of more than 1,000 jobs, has become the city’s second-largest economic generator. According to Westfield, the Patios Connection should create an additional 486 full-time equivalent direct and indirect jobs. During the construction phase, the project will create an additional 900 full-time equivalent direct and indirect jobs and deliver more than $180 million in economic benefit locally. Westfield Valencia Town Center will undergo $20 million in renovations by late 2019, according to a Santa Clarita Valley Signal report. Senior General Manager Corrine Barchanowicz said that, in addition to a new entrance, the retail center will gain a family lounge with children’s play area and updated store facades to transform the environment into more of a family friendly “lifestyle destination for the community.” In a different business sector, mid-March saw Northern California-based luxury senior residence home community developer Oakmont Senior Living throw an early celebration for the opening of a second facility in the valley – an amenities-laden property with 90 units, specifically 50 memory care and 40 assisted living. This summer, Oakmont of Valencia — a two-story, 85,000-square-foot community — will join existing Oakmont of Santa Clarita, which has been at 28650 Newhall Ranch Road since January 2016 and totals 86 residential units (55 in assisted living and 30 in memory care). As a follow-up to the housewarming event that drew 400 locals April 6, Oakmont of Valencia is at about 70 percent capacity, Veis said. “The two communities are about 3.5 miles apart, but there is plenty of demand to support both of them,” Veis said. Such demand should ensure that employees, landlords and dealmakers alike continue to divine value in Santa Clarita Valley. “With limited supply and developable land in the San Fernando Valley,” Spectrum’s Haimoff said, “Santa Clarita Valley has become a great source for buyers and users who are looking for quality product in a quality setting.” Bella Vida, a private non-residential senior center that offers programming and events, relocated after 40 years in Newhall as part of William S. Hart Park to a home base at 27180 Golden Valley Road in Canyon Country. At 30,000 square feet, the new facility, which debuted April 29, encompasses three times the original site, according to spokesperson Jennifer de Haven. Meanwhile in Valencia, Six Flags Magic Mountain has embarked on creating the parallel-track, four-speed West Coast Racers attraction next year. As part of the construction, Cyclone 500 Go Karts will be redeveloped and new retail outlets and restaurants will be added to the park. “Six Flags Magic Mountain is the undisputed ‘Thrill Capital of the World’ and with this newest coaster, strengthens our position as the ‘Coaster Capital of the World’ with a total of 20 roller coasters — more than any other theme park on the planet,” Park President Neal Thurman said in a statement. Grand Prairie, Texas-based parent company Six Flags Entertainment Corp. owns the Santa Clarita amusement park. Studios shout ‘Action!’ With 25 soundstages and big screen-ready verdant vistas, Santa Clarita has become a thriving center for entertainment. On-location filming in the city climbed substantially between July 2017 to June 2018, with film permits up 2.8 percent to 560 and an 8.9 percent increase in film days to 1377, according to Santa Clarita Film Office data. The bureau estimates that entertainment production has generated $33.1 million in local economic impact. Indeed, film production companies large and small have been taking advantage of the valley’s production-friendly charms. According to CBRE Group, an unidentified independent studio operator with an existing Santa Clarita Valley presence signed a new 166,359-square-foot lease March 29 at Rockefeller Crossing, an industrial building in Valencia owned and operated by LBA Logistics. CBRE Group’s Craig Peters and Sam Glendon represented both tenant and landlord in the transaction. The 27420 Avenue Scott warehouse features 30-foot clear-height ceilings, dock-high doors, proximity to freeways and retail and restaurant options. “This particular operator has been very active and increasing its footprint in the area, following a general trend in this region in response to the tremendous demand from content creators,” Peters said in a statement. Early in the year, entertainment industry provider Triscenic Production Services Inc. leased a Valencia industrial building for $7.7 million. The 142,392-square-foot building at 25045 Avenue Tibbitts features 28-foot minimum clearance, 26 truck high position doors and two ground level loading doors. Matt Dierckman, David Harding, Greg Geraci and Billy Walk of CBRE Group represented Triscenic owner Vince Gervasi in the transaction while Brad Koehler of Jones Lang LaSalle represented landlord LIPT ASP Valencia Inc. Gervasi and real estate investor John Prabhu, formerly of Kennedy Wilson, had recently formed Triscenic Studios. “This property is the perfect fit for a company such as this that serves a thriving entertainment industry,” CBRE’s Dierckman said in a statement. “It sits in an entertainment-friendly city and offers a plethora of local amenities and excellent ceiling clearance, power, parking and office space.” Also in January, CBRE handled Santa Clarita Studios’ seven-year commitment to a 109,379-square-foot Valencia warehouse. Santa Clarita Studios has provided space and services to such productions as the 2018 Walt Disney Co. motion picture “A Wrinkle in Time” and television series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” The 28210 Avenue Stanford site, a recently renovated 1986 industrial structure located within Valencia Industrial Center, has such soundstage-ready deliverables as 24-foot minimum clear height, 245 parking spaces with ample rear yard area and electrical power supply. CBRE’s Peters and Glendon represented the tenant while Peters also represented the landlord, real estate investment firm Heitman LLC. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Medical magnet Movie-making is not the only business activating the area. Santa Clarita has also seen clusters in such fields as medical devices, aerospace, information technology and digital media. On March 1, Kaiser Permanente re-upped its lease for nearly 11,000 square feet of medical office space in Valencia at the recently renovated 27201 Tourney Road, which sits on a property known as Valencia Executive Plaza inside Valencia Corporate Center. Spectrum Commercial Real Estate was also involved in this 10,934-square-foot deal transaction on behalf of building owner Valencia Executive Plaza LLC. Financial details remain undisclosed but according to Spectrum, the lease represents one of the largest medical transactions in the submarket since 2016. “This was a high-profile transaction that required attention, patience and detail to take to the finish line,” said Spectrum Vice President Matt Sreden, who represented the landlord with Spectrum’s Haimoff and Ghassemi, in a statement. Spectrum’s Haimoff said his medical client sought a short-term lease and proximity to Old Town Newhall. “The search was challenging as there were only limited amount of properties for sale in the immediate area that met the buyer’s requirement,” Haimoff said. “We were left with only two choices and the subject property met the majority of buyer’s requirements. The subject property is situated on a relatively large, 23,087 SF parcel and is part of a larger shopping center anchored by Smart & Final, Union Bank and the U.S. Postal Service.” Haimoff added that the buyer may eventually relocate and occupy a portion of the property. Rich past, rosy future Beyond the first quarter, Valencia Pipe Co. Inc., a division of VPC Global, signed a lease last month for 170,990 square feet at Vista Business Park in Valencia for $10.1 million, in a deal brokered by agents from CBRE, JLL and IDS. For the steel tubing and pipes manufacturer, the 1999-built, class A property, located at 28305 Livingston Ave., will serve as the company’s corporate headquarters and distribution facility, while manufacturing operations remain in Kingman, Ariz. The Valencia lease, which runs through October 2024, is just the latest of transactions building on the promise set forth six decades ago when Newhall Land & Farming Co. decided to move from ranching to home development in the 1960s and hired Victor Gruen, often cited as the creator of the modern shopping mall, to plan the buildout of Valencia. He combined housing, retail, office and industrial zones in an attempt to create a self-contained city – a formula that has since proved popular. According to SCVEDC’s most recent statistics from mid-2018, the valley is home to 29 million square feet of industrial and business parks — including Valencia Industrial Center, Valencia Commerce Center near Castaic, and Centre Pointe in Canyon Country — as well as more than 3,500 acres between its movie ranches, among them the Disney-owned Golden Oak Ranch; Melody Motion Picture Studio, Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch, Blue Cloud Movie Ranch and Sable Movie Ranch. At 10.4 million square feet and 8.9 million square feet built respectively, Valencia Industrial Center and Valencia Commerce Center loom largest among the commercial properties, while smaller campuses, including Valencia Corporate Center (775,000 square feet), Southern California Innovation Park (612,095) and IAC Commerce Center (398,000), are also contributing substantial business-designated space.
