The process to begin negotiating a 1.8-million-square-foot mixed-use development in Castaic was kicked off on Tuesday after the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved moving forward with talks with the project’s developer.
Named the Honor Ranch Development Project, the 1.8-million-square-foot project, if ultimately approved by the board and completed, would include an industrial park, bioscience research offices, retail parking and transportation infrastructure.
The proposed project would be located on approximately 206 acres of undeveloped land — 160.5 of which is developable — just between Interstate 5 and the Castaic Creek wash. Although sitting directly west of the facility, officials said the development will take place on independent parcels that are not currently a part of the Pitchess Detention Center campus.
“The Honor Ranch Development Project is a tremendous development opportunity in the Santa Clarita Valley,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger said via a statement sent to The Signal on Tuesday. “This property is one of the largest county-owned parcels of undeveloped land available today.
“Given that the Santa Clarita Valley is one of our county’s fastest-growing areas, we must commit to investing in economic and workforce development opportunities that will benefit families and community members in the region,” Barger added.
The eventual businesses and infrastructure will be of service to the 32,000 new housing units and other millions of square feet of commercial and retail space coming to the Santa Clarita Valley in the near future, Barger’s statement said. A 2018 market assessment for the project showed Santa Clarita’s population growing by 30% by 2040, nearly twice the overall county rate of 16%.
Barger referenced during the meeting the FivePoint Holdings LLC development off of Highway 126, which is in the process of completing the 21,500-home Valencia planned community, saying she hoped the new Honor Ranch Development Project would allow those residents, as well as the ones currently living in the SCV, to work and live locally.
“Through a competitive bidding process that culminated in 2021, the county selected Trammell Crow Co. as the developer for the project,” read the statement from Barger’s office. “The company has a long and sustained track record of successful commercial development.”
Los Angeles County’s Public Works Department will manage the pre-development phase of the proposed Honor Ranch Development Project, including working with Trammell Crow Co. over the coming months to negotiate a final agreement that will guide the long-term development of the property.
