From commercial and industrial spaces to offices and more homes, the Santa Clarita Valley has continued to expand its development projects this year.
Though the coronavirus pandemic has stalled progress, many projects have still been able to meet goals, either completed or nearing completion on development projects.
“These projects are great for our community as we strive to bring in the jobs that our residents need so they don’t have to commute, and then the stores and restaurants that they want to go to,” Jason Crawford, the city of Santa Clarita’s planning, marketing and economic development manager, said. “So it’s very exciting to see these businesses continuing to bet on the future of Santa Clarita.”
Here’s a look at the most significant developments that have happened so far this year in the SCV, according to the city of Santa Clarita and SCV Economic Development Corp.
The Center at Needham Ranch
Thought of by developers as the highlight for new developments in the SCV, this 135-acre business park, which lies within a 252-acre industrial project site.
“That’s really one of the key development projects around, not only for the Santa Clarita Valley, but within the Southern California area,” Craig Peters, executive vice president of CBRE, the project’s leasing agent, said. “It’s an incredible project that offers the most functional state-of-the-art buildings that we’ve ever seen out here.”
Phase 1, which comprises six buildings totalling approximately 850,000 square feet, was completed earlier this year. Each building features minimum clear heights of 30-36 feet, a minimum 120-foot truck court depth with secure yard areas, ESFR fire sprinklers and abundant vehicle parking.
“If you’re a warehouse operator that’s looking to store products, that additional clear height is extraordinarily important,” Peters said regarding the 36-foot clear heights.
Illumination Dynamics, a lighting and electric rental production company for television, motion picture, sports broadcast and studio installations, has already moved into a building in Phase 1A, while it was recently announced that Amazon, the e-commerce giant, is set to move into one of the buildings.
“There are two more deals that they’re very close to announcing,” Crawford said. “And while they’re signing leases for the buildings they’ve built, they’re already doing the prep work, the infrastructure, for building out the rest of the buildings.”
While COVID-19 threw a curveball in securing some of the tenants that had been in the works, other markets doing well during the shutdown stepped in to backfill those spaces.
“On the industrial side, the market has done quite well, even during this challenging time,” Peters said. “Part of that was the effect of e-commerce companies continuing their insatiable desire to expand, but the other part of it was when the entertainment industry started filming again, you had a lot of pent up demand, so now that both those engines are firing, the industrial market has been doing very, very well.”
In fact, they’re getting ready to break ground on Phase 2, which is expected to include roughly another 1.1 million square feet of buildings, soon, according to Peters.
The business park located on Sierra Highway near Old Town Newhall, close to the southern tip of Santa Clarita, less than one mile north of the city of Los Angeles boundary and minutes from the Interstate 405 and 5 intersection, providing easy access to downtown, West L.A., LAX and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the SCVEDC.
“This project is going to be such a big driver for the economy with all of the businesses and all the jobs that come with that, providing, obviously, new opportunities for folks to work here instead of having to commute down to Los Angeles,” Crawford added.
Vista Canyon
Situated near Highway 14 and the Via Princessa off-ramp in Canyon Country, the 185-acre Vista Canyon project is set to become a mixed-use, pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly community with townhomes, single-family residences and luxury apartments, as well as office and commercial space, a new transit center and more than 21 acres preserved for recreation.
“That’s really a unique one, and when you think that 50% of the population in the Santa Clarita Valley lives in Canyon Country, that’s going to be a really nice project, not only for companies that want to have their offices there, but just an amenity to that group of the population in the SCV,” Peters said.
They completed the first office building, and the city of Santa Clarita is working with them right now on what will be the second office building, which will be in construction soon, according to Crawford.
IAC Commerce Center
This is a 1.3 million square foot brand new industrial development is situated on 116 acres located north of Highway 126 in Valencia.
The development consists of seven newly constructed industrial buildings, with phase one already completed and fully occupied.
The facility features 32 dock-high positions, 30-foot ceilings, one ground-level loading door, heavy power and abundant parking.
Orchard Medical Center
This two-story, 41,244-square-foot medical building sits on the northwest corner of Orchard Village Road and Wiley Canyon Road.
“They got approved at the end of last year, and then they were in construction through this year, and it is finished now,” Crawford said.
The project consists of the medical office building, along with site improvements, including more than 200 parking spaces and 16,700 square feet of landscaped area on a 2.76-acre site.
“The interesting thing with this one is they can sell off medical office condominium units, so that building really has the ability to do sales or leases from as small as 2,500 square feet up to the entire building of 41,244 square feet,” Peters said.
Tourney Place, Building 6
The new three-story medical office building, located at 27335 Tourney Road, is a 45,675-square-foot addition to the larger Tourney Plaza III, which sits across from the Valencia Country Club.
They’ve just finished the shell construction, with CBRE already in negotiations with some potential tenants.
“Primarily, it can be general office, but really, there’s been a lot of demand for medical space, and so we’re seeing both inquiries from general office and medical office tenants in that area,” Peters added.
Skyline Ranch Plaza
The new mixed development is located on the corner of Plum Canyon Road and Skyline Ranch Road, giving Plum Canyon residents much-anticipated shopping and dining options nearby.
“It’s pretty exciting, seeing new retail centers open, with restaurants and stores,” Crawford said, adding that Telly’s Charburger, the longtime Santa Clarita staple, has moved over to the plaza.
In the SCV, new development will fuel business and population growth for years to come, creating opportunities for both local residents and businesses, according to the SCVEDC.
“There are definitely businesses that are betting on Santa Clarita moving forward with these projects, and we at the city are doing everything we can to be poised to have a strong recovery from this COVID crisis,” Crawford said.
Schroeder agreed, adding, “The new developments in the pipeline should really help the Santa Clarita Valley come out of this recession. Construction is likely to lead us out of the recession, and the fact that we have this pipeline is very good for us.
“Industrial construction is still underway, and despite the uncertainty of the economy, there’s a really strong demand for it and we’re seeing a lot of interest in it,” she added. “The state-of-the-art buildings that are under construction should really help with bringing more jobs to the Santa Clarita Valley.”
