The Santa Clarita City Council on Tuesday is hosting another discussion for the recommended approval of The Hartwell, a 78-unit condo-and-retail project for Main and Market streets.
If the first two public discussions are any indication, there likely will be a crowd at Santa Clarita City Hall for the controversial project, which has drawn praise, criticism, a council member’s recusal and questions about deals struck behind closed doors.
Ongoing negotiations have drawn another proposal from the developer, according to a letter in a Santa Clarita staff report released Thursday ahead of the meeting.
Now the developer is asking the city to cut — by more than half — a previously proposed mitigation fee it offered to remove the old courthouse building from the city’s historical structure list and demolish it.
The developer proposes cutting the mitigation fee as part of its negotiations to make a neighbor just a few feet away happy during the construction work.
“Their original proposal was a contribution to the … (city) of $750,000 for future historic preservation efforts,” according to the staff report prepared for Tuesday’s discussion. “As outlined in the attached applicant letter dated April 28, 2025, their alternative proposal is a contribution to the city of $300,000 for future historic preservation efforts, as they work with KHTS to address construction-noise impacts.”
A project like The Hartwell has been part of the city’s specific plan for years — a mixed-use building that will fit into Santa Clarita’s “park once” plan for Old Town Newhall.
Those speaking in support of the project have called it a long-overdue addition that will help draw the kind of foot traffic area businesses say is necessary for their survival. Robert Younkin, a partner on the project and president of a coalition of neighborhood businesses called the Old Town Newhall Association, has complained at two hearings how Old Town Newhall has been in the works for 20 years and it’s only 40% done.
In addition to the units in a five-story complex, there would be about 5,200 feet of retail space on the ground floor, which is similar to Newhall Crossings on the other end of Main Street.
Newhall Crossings, which brought the Laemmle Newhall theater and helped justify the 378-space parking structure there, was built by the same developer, Jason Tolleson of Serrano Development Group.
The city’s specific plan for Old Town Newhall calls for a similar parking structure and mixed-use project on the other end of the street as a bookend to a walkable area with restaurants and retail on Main Street.
However, a council member’s efforts to make the plan a reality at the expense of local history have caused concern for some.
A building that’s been on a list of historical structures for more than a decade — a courthouse built in the 1930s, partially of wood repurposed from a makeshift morgue for the San Francisquito Dam disaster — was added to the project, after the plan was originally submitted to the city in June. Councilwoman Laurene Weste, who owns land nearby and sits on the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society board, said she negotiated that deal on behalf of the city, and it remains in the city staff recommendations for the project.
She then recused herself from the discussion of the deal she made, during an April 22 hearing for The Hartwell.
The proposal brought to the council called for Tolleson to be able to clear Mac’s Pool Supply (24316 Main St.), Horseshoe on Main (24300 Main St.) and the historic Masonic Lodge/Courthouse (22505 Market St.) buildings, about three-quarters of an acre, to make room for the project.
The city has a historical ordinance, but no fee associated with removing a building from the list of historical structures, according to the city.
Weste’s role drew scrutiny because she also has a leadership role in the Historical Society, and the deal she struck called for a planning condition stating a $750,000 donation “to support local historic preservation efforts” must be paid before the demolition permit is issued.
She said previously the money is for the city directly and that no conflict of interest exists.
The options facing the Santa Clarita City Council on Tuesday are to: abide by Tolleson’s request and reduce the mitigation fee; make him stick to the proposed deal as previously negotiated with Weste; or create new conditions altogether.
