The city’s planning staff is asking for the Santa Clarita City Council’s permission to enter into exclusive negotiations for a parking structure with the developer responsible for Main Street’s two biggest projects in Newhall.
“Staff is requesting City Council authorization to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement (ENA) with Serrano Development Group for the city-owned Main Street property,” according to the council’s agenda for Tuesday. “Entering into an ENA allows the city to negotiate with the developer to further refine project details, evaluate financial components, and outline the terms that would guide the potential sale and development of the site.”
The city’s plan is to put a second parking structure at the other end of Main Street to match the one that accompanies Newhall Crossings, a project Serrano also built on the north end, according to past comments from city officials.
The city acquired three adjacent properties located along Main Street near the intersection of Main Street and Railroad Avenue with long-term plans to use them for a parking structure: the Moore’s Subs property (24158 Main St.) was acquired in 2005; the Roger Dunn property (24200 Main St.) was acquired in 2018; and the Coffey Parking Lot property was acquired in 2021.
All three properties come out to 0.86 acres, with the former golf shop and about 85 public spaces on the property.
When asked for the request for proposals on the parking structure, the city shared a multipage solicitation for “a qualified development partner to acquire and develop a 0.86-acre site in Old Town Newhall into a financially feasible, community-supported mixed-use project consistent with the Old Town Newhall Specific Plan.”
The site has a restrictive covenant that requires that 15% of residential units on the site be income-restricted for lower-income households, according to city documents. The city desires that any development project align with the Old Town Newhall Specific Plan, “which calls for the provision of 400 public parking spaces in the vicinity of this site.”
The city of Santa Clarita discussed negotiations with Serrano Development in closed session two weeks ago regarding the same properties.
City Manager Ken Striplin indicated to the City Council during a previous public discussion of the parking structure that the city would solicit offers.
The city’s agenda indicated that 75 businesses downloaded the request-for-proposal regarding the Old Town Newhall mixed-use development opportunity. Only one submitted a formal response, according to the city.
There were eight properties on the city’s closed-session agenda for the Jan. 13 meeting. The properties being discussed in closed session, all owned by the city, were recorded between 2018 and 2021, according to records with the Assessor’s Office, include several parcels that wrap around the north side of the roundabout in Newhall, across the street from the city’s recently acquired William S. Hart Park property.
“This parking model lets a patron park in one location and walk around the entire Main Street area to shop, dine and enjoy the area’s amenities,” according to the City Council agenda report for the city’s previous parking structure, which discusses a “park-once” model. “The specific plan calls for two public parking structures to be built, one at the north end and one at the south end of Main Street, with approximately 400 spaces each, to serve the entire district.”
