Warner Center WELCOME HOME

The Los Angeles Department of City Planning has published an initial study which offers new details on the Westfield Corporation’s Promenade 2035 project. Westfield’s $1.5-billion project calls for the redevelopment of the struggling Promenade shopping mall in Warner Center, which occupies a 36-acre property bounded by Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Owensmouth Avenue, Erwin and Oxnard Streets. A master plan created by architecture firm Johnson Fain divides the project site into four quadrants.

Montage Development, a real estate firm based out of Calabasas, is planning to redevelop a parking lot near the Orange Line in Warner Center. The .43-acre site, located at Vanowen Street and Canoga Avenue, is slated for a six-story building which would feature 150 apartments above nearly 8,100 square feet of retail space and parking for 226 vehicles. Montage’s project sits directly across street from the 46-acre site where United Technologies Corporation is looking to build a “sustainable urban community,” consisting of mid-rise and high-rise structures featuring apartments, offices, and hotels above pedestrian-oriented commercial space.

Less than one week after filing plans to redevelop the 36-acre Westfield Promenade property in Warner Center, the Westfield Corporation has revealed a full website for the project. Dubbed Westfield Promenade 2035, the proposed development is shaped by the Warner Center 2035 Plan (WC2035). WC2035 was adoped by the Los Angeles City Council in 2013, and is intended as a blueprint for future development within the surrounding community. According to a case filing from the Los Angeles Department of City planning, a full buildout of the project will include: Additionally, a project fact sheet announces that the propsed development would include more than seven acres of open space, including rooftop gardens and landscaping.

Last year, the completion of the the Village at Westfield Topanga was heralded as a new Downtown for the San Fernando Valley. The outdoor shopping center, built at a cost of $350 million, offers a pedestrian paseo flanked by a curated collection of stores and restaurants. The new mall stands in stark relief to the dilapidated Westfield Promenade, which has seen an exodus of tenants as a result of decaying conditions.

Last month, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that construction is finally underway for a mixed-use development at the site of the paper’s former headquarters. The project from Fairfield Residential, located on a 4.5-acre site at 21221 Oxnard Street, will consist of 379 apartments in a sprawling five-story complex. Previous reports have budgeted the development at $70-million. A rendering from Architects Orange portrays a contemporary design highlighted by a glass tower element.

Tomorrow, the Woodland Hills - Warner Center Neighborhood Council’s Planning, Land Use & Mobility Committee will review a proposal for a new mixed-use complex at 21300 Oxnard Street. The project, which spans across a 2.25-acre site, would create more than 300,000 square feet of programmed space. Although specifics are unclear, the proposed development would be built in two phases, starting with a mutlifamily residential building and a hotel. The subsequent phase would involve the construction of a medical office tower.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, demolition is now underway at the 61-year-old Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power Plant at Victory Boulevard and Canoga Avenue in Warner Center. The approximately 46-acre property, vacant for the last several years, is being converted by owner United Technologies Corp. into what has been described as a $3-billion “sustainable urban neighborhood.“ The project, which is being developed in partnership with Boston Global Investors (BGI), will feature a series of high-rise and mid-rise buildings offering residential units and office space above ground-floor shops and restaurants.

Visions of a taller, more urban Warner Center are finally taking shape. Earlier this week, plans were filed with the City of Los Angeles to build a mixed-use development directly across the street from the $350-million Village at Westfield Topanga mall. The project, which is being developed by Los Angeles-based California Home Builders, would consist of a seven-story structure features 347 apartments above approximately 40,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

The controversial Village at Westfield Topanga, scourge of neighbors and Southern California taxpayer advocates alike, is shrinking. According to an economic feasibility study commissioned by the LA City Council, the Australian mall developer has dropped its plans for a hotel as part of the first phase of their Warner Center mega-project. The hotel, which Westfield may still pursue at a later date, would have risen 16-stories from the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Erwin Street.

The post-Cold War exodus of Los Angeles’ aerospace industry has left behind large swaths of underutilized industrial land. Chief amongst those properties is a 47-acre parcel at the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Canoga Avenue, which was previously occupied by Rocketdyne. Located in the heart of Warner Center, talk of development has swirled around the property since 2011. Finally, developer Boston Global Investors tipped their hand last week. In a Wednesday article from the Daily News, BGI announced plans for LA Warner Center, a $3 billion dollar development consisting of residential, office, retail and hotel uses.