Bulldozers, broken pavement and tree stumps are what’s left of what used to be known as the Saugus Speedway, a place where thousands formerly gathered to watch Saturday-night stock car racing, and in recent years shopped for goods at a twice-weekly swap meet.
But now as it’s hit the demolition phase, what’s left of the local staple is a faded Saugus Speedway sign on a barrier facing Soledad Canyon Road, and piles of cut-down trees throughout the 35-acre property, which will soon be turned into a mixed-use housing and commercial development.
The Saugus Speedway property, which was owned by the Bonelli family, is set to become a nearly 320-home development, split into five parcels, with 22 low-income housing units and a warehouse space for commercial use, according to previous reports.
According to previous accounts of the development approval process, the building partner for the housing project is Lennar Corp., a real estate company that was founded in 1954 and has since built over one million family style homes across the country, according to the company website.
The housing project is set to replace the Saugus Speedway on the 22500 block of Soledad, next to the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station. Lennar’s other local projects have included homes in the Tesoro Highlands community and Outlook at Valencia, according to the company website. Those homes range from $594,000 to $1.4 million.
The Saugus Speedway saw its final race in 1995, with the owners stating the grandstands, where crowds of people sat to witness the local competitions, were deemed unsafe. The grandstands were removed in 2012.
Over the ensuing years, the former race track continued to offer its swap meet with vendors selling all kinds of affordable merchandise ranging from everyday essentials such as groceries and clothes to audio equipment and antiques.
The swap meet officially raised its white flag on Oct. 27 of last year and welcomed hundreds of people, including out-of-towners, for a final farewell with music, good buys and food.
Lennar representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the status of the project as of the publication of this story.
