Santa Clarita officials can now negotiate a deal that would book-end the revitalization of Downtown Newhall, with Tuesday’s authorization from the City Council to discuss terms exclusively with Serrano Development Group.
The plans involve a parking structure expected to cost the city more than $20 million, as well as 65 condos and another relatively small retail portion at the south end of Main Street.
The Santa Clarita City Council’s vote authorized staff to work on the sale of several city-owned parcels to Serrano, the city’s partner of choice for a 300-space parking structure.
The proposed project would involve several parcels, including the city-owned parking lot on the south side of Main Street, the former Roger Dunn golf shop property and a smaller adjacent parking lot.
Councilwoman Marsha McLean, who has questioned the city’s dealings on Main Street several times in the past two years, raised concerns about the project, due to what the city was giving up and getting in return.
“Who’s funding the parking structure?” McLean asked, to which City Manager Ken Striplin said, “Most likely, the city.”
He made it clear the city would be spending more than it was receiving on the deal.
“So then, when we’re negotiating with them, I assume they’re going to pay us for the properties that they need to build their portion of it. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get enough money to fund that parking structure,” she said, asking about the potential for that scenario.
“Ah, it’s not gonna happen,” Striplin said. “You’re talking about an acre of land, of which we’re going to use a portion of it. The parking structure is going to be, early estimates, north of $20 million. We will not get close to that for the property.”
McLean responded by saying it’s important to know what the city paid for those properties, and whether the city will get its money’s worth.
“Yes, that I believe we will,” Striplin said, describing the proceeds from that sale as “a contribution” to the parking structure’s cost.
McLean pressed to ask if Serrano was going to be required to put any money toward the parking structure, because “(Serrano) got away with murder on The Hartwell. They truly did,” she said. “And I’m hoping that’s not going to happen on this project.”
She said Serrano led that deal, and the developer got more than it should have, and the council’s job was not to make sure the developer makes as much money as possible.
Striplin did not respond to the question about a developer contribution for the structure. The terms for the structure are expected to be part of the now-authorized discussion. One of the proposed scenarios looks at the city leasing about 50 spaces from the structure to Serrano for its condos.
When McLean had wrapped up her concerns, she asked about other options.
“If we did put it back out there, since we only had one response, would we get any better? Or are we stuck to go ahead with this,” she asked.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Striplin said. “I don’t think anything’s changed in the last two or three months that I can point my finger at. Our recommendation is to move forward with Serrano.”
One notable change to the neighborhood since the city requested the initial bids for a mixed-use parking structure in July, which was closed for bidding Aug. 28, 2025, was the council’s Aug. 26 entitlement of 98 condo units, and approximately 6,000 square feet of retail for a property next door.
McLean started her comments by saying how happy everyone was with Serrano’s last project for Main Street, Newhall Crossings.
However, the negotiations for The Hartwell, a 100-condo mixed-use project also being built by Serrano next to where the parking structure would go, left a bad taste in her mouth.
McLean said the city came to terms with Jason Tolleson, of Serrano, during the negotiation phase for that project, and then Tolleson came in front of the council with different terms. The staff recommendation called for a historical mitigation fee for The Hartwell that was not included in the final approvals.
Due to the property initially being considered surplus from the city, there’s a state covenant that required 15%, or 10 of those units, to be affordable housing, according to city officials.
During his presentation on the property, Jason Crawford, the city’s director of community development, said the city would also be open to vacating part of 5th Street to the developer for better access to Main Street.
City planners working on the project now have six months to negotiate with Serrano on the details for a final proposal, which would be brought back before the council to gain its approval.
Those details include the price Serrano would pay for the city’s parcels as well as the design of the project and the details of the mixed-use portion of the project, and the timing for what would be built and when.
The reconstruction of downtown Newhall has been a long, slow, deliberate effort by the city that really began with its redevelopment plan in 2005. Robert Younkin, president of the Old Town Newhall Association, has lamented publicly several times during The Hartwell discussion that despite being a 20-year-old plan, it’s only about 40% complete.
City officials have always planned to have the land at the south end of Main Street to be a parking structure, a matching piece for the 400-space structure on the north end that was built as part of Newhall Crossings.
Newhall Crossings also was built by Jason Tolleson and his company, Serrano Development Group, which is based out of Pasadena. It was authorized by the City Council in February 2016.
The city said it put together a request for proposals over the summer, while it was still negotiating the terms of a project that would go next door to the parking structure, also with Serrano.
The city said the RFP was sent out to more than 1,000 entities, and while 75 downloaded the information, only one responded — Serrano.
Crawford said he didn’t know why only Serrano responded this time around, adding that for the RFP on Newhall Crossings there were more applicants, and two ultimately selected for negotiations before Serrano was chosen.
Crawford speculated that a couple of factors were different this time around, including market certainty and the affordable-housing element.
