San Fernando Valley Blog: Westfield Promenade

Browsing "Older Posts"

Browsing Category "Westfield Promenade"

Latest Apartment Development Rumor in Woodland Hills

Monday, May 12, 2014 / 2 Comments

Might need to update this image now. Image courtesy Rich Krugel Facebook

Before the Promenade Mall was built, hard to believe it was farmland.

In addition to all of the current apartment and retail development taking place in the Warner Center area of Woodland Hills much discussed on this blog (see image above), another rumor has surfaced that the Promenade mall might possibly be torn down to make way for more apartments. Yes, more apartments!

The rumor comes from a reader at the Daily News published on May 8, 2014 with the following question addressed to Greg Wilcox:

I am a tenant in the AMC theater portion of (the) Promenade — neither Westfield nor AMC tells us anything so I rely on writers like you and LA Curbed to keep up on the latest.

The latest rumor is Westfield is going to tear down the Promenade mall and build apartments — I heard this from 2 other tenants. Have you heard anything like this? Thanks in advance for anything you are able to share.

Greg Wilcox passed on the question to Katy Dickey, Westfield's spokeswoman, who had the following response:

We’re always looking at options and opportunities for 2, 5, 10 years down the road, but focus today is on the Village and operating centers in the Valley.

Now here is the kicker that Greg Wilcox uncovered:

And I found out something else I — and likely a lot of other people — did not know: The Promenade and the mall’s food court and AMC theater complex are actually separate.

“The theater building is owned by EPR (Entertainment Property REIT), but AMC controls/operates building and food court under a master lease w/EPR,” Dickey wrote in a follow-up email.

So lets use logic here, if you know that another competing movie theatre is opening under the Village project along with competing shops, do you fight against the competition when it opens in a year or two or do you maybe cash out to developers and jump on the apartment development trend in Warner Center?

The only positive thing I can see out of this is that more apartments flooding the market should have some downward price pressure for those who need to rent (and these apartments will not be cheap). With all of these units popping up, there has to be a lot of vacancies. Is everybody moving to Warner Center?

Below is a map I created back on April 23, 2012 with the known apartment projects which doesnt include this latest rumor but does include the proposed development at the former Rocketdyne site

View Woodland Hills Development in a larger map

Warner Center Expansion Goes Into Overdrive

Friday, March 28, 2014 / No Comments

Image courtesy Rich Krugel Facebook

There has been a barrage of Warner Center development news hitting the newswire in the past month which doesnt seem to stop. The latest is the $3 billion conversion of the old Rockedyne site which is nothing new but is becoming closer to fruition. Take into consideration the following:

Westfield drops hotel plans at Village at Wesfield Topanga published on February 28, 2014.
Westfield Village Project Gets $59 Million Tax Break from Los Angeles City Council published on March 4, 2014.
Westfield Village at Topanga in Warner Set for 2015 Opening published on March 6, 2014.
Lawsuit Over The Village at Westfield Topanga Resolved published on March 19, 2014.
Westfield Topanga Breaks Ground on $350 Million Village Project published on March 24, 2014.
Warner Center's Rocketdyne Site Slated for $3 Billion Project published on March 26, 2014.

My favorite articles above are the hotel being dropped and the tax credit. Why would Westfield drop a hotel now? What happened to their previous projections that showed it would work? Isnt more hotels in the area the solution?

And the same with tax credits. Why cant we offer tax credits to manufacturing companies that increase the local GDP and provide high paying jobs? Why is it limited to these retail type corporations that really only hire minimum wage teenagers and a few adult managers?

Moving onto the picture above which I dont know who generated it, is a great picture that really captures all the activity taking place in a very finite area which also highlights the corporate stores already in existence that it begs the question, do we really need more? Is "more" going to really add more jobs or destroy jobs at other areas as people flock to this shopping center behemoth? And are these jobs high paying jobs that can support a family purchasing an average $500K single family home in Winnetka? Remember when this area used to house manufacturing centers along with highly skilled and paid jobs.

This project has been a sensitive area for me that I have been highly critical which I first talked about it in 2011 in one of my very first posts on this blog and continued to provide coverage with each new development. You can read some of those old posts shown below:

My opinion hasnt changed one bit for this project and I continue to question the purpose behind these massive projects and wonder what will happen once completed, to traffic, small businesses, and the massive increase in available housing. Those questions seemed to have already been answered by the City Council, Westfield, and other developers as not being an issue or already resolved. Obviously, at this point, nothing can be done and the projects are full steam ahead. I guess time will only tell to who wins and loses with these projects. But there cant be all winners and somebody will take a hit.

One of the early victims of this project was the old Home Savings Millard Sheets inspired mural by Marlo Bartels and Astrid Preston that was most recently occupied by a Fedex Office store. It was demolished without preservation but I hope I am wrong. If it was completely demolished, than you know that negligence and ignorance has already started. Below you can find a picture of it that I took before razing commenced.

And dont forget all the apartment activity taking place. In addition to the The Village, there will be 2000 new apartment units added which I talked about previously taking place nearby the Orange line, at the former Valley Music Theatre (click here for updated pic), and former Catalina Yachts manufacturing site which are all shown in the map below.

View Woodland Hills Development in a larger map

Here are some random pictures I found on Facebook of the old Warner Center.

Image courtesy Dean Field Facebook

Image courtesy Gordon Ross Facebook

You can view more SFV Architecture and Real Estate here.

Former J.W. Robinson Department Store Bell Tower now Macy's in Woodland Hills Promenade Mall

Friday, December 6, 2013 / No Comments

You can read more about the Woodland Hills Promenade Mall in a Back To The Future series post here.

Demolition Underway for The Village at Westfield Topanga

Friday, August 2, 2013 / 2 Comments

Before some of the demo work started. The Topanga Theatre was already gone and replaced by Crate and Barrel. Image courtesy Bing Maps.

In case you havent noticed, demo work is clearly underway at the proposed site of The Village at Westfield Topanga. All buildings that were previously on the site have been torn down except the Crate & Barrel which will be incorporated into The Village at Westfield Topanga. There is supposed to be a lawsuit to stop the construction work by the Woodland Hills Homeowners association but I believe that suit may have been dropped. Does anyone know the current status of the lawsuit?

Demo work has also begun on the other side on Erwin Street where the former Froch's Woodcraft Shop has been demolished located at 21919 Erwin Street.

Image courtesy Tree.com

The one thing that I want to know is what happened to the Millard Sheets inspired mural by Marlo Bartels and Astrid Preston originally designed in 1989 for the Home Savings Bank (shown below) depicting Warner Center and was most recently occupied by FedEx Office? Did Westfield Company destroy this great piece of art without consideration for saving? I hope not.

Also, what is going to happen to the creek at the corner of Victory and Owensmouth?

And here is one bonus. The Rocketdyne site is set to be demolished too to make way for more apartments and other housing/retail stuff. Cant wait to drive through this area!

I have talked at length about this project in the past which I believe was first conceptualized in 2006.

Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills Postcard

Thursday, June 13, 2013 / No Comments

This postcard was also featured in a Back To The Future series post.

You can view more Woodland Hills Postcards here.

You can view more SFV Postcards here.

1960's Topanga Canyon Blvd and Oxnard St in Canoga Park Postcard

Monday, June 3, 2013 / No Comments

This postcard was also used in the BTTF post about the Promenade Mall.

You can view more Canoga Park Postcards here.

You can view more SFV Postcards here.

The Village at Westfield Topanga is Coming.....Hang Onto Your Hats

Thursday, March 1, 2012 / No Comments

According to the LA Daily News, the City Council approved the Village at Westfield Topanga today. What this means is that a Costco and 50 shops will be added in the first phase (2013) and an office, hotel, and more shops in the second phase (2016). This will be built in the vacant lot between the Topanga and Promenade malls.

I talked about this before with the small creek on the corner of Owensmouth and Victory likely to be destroyed and with the opportunity to voice your concerns as well as the Back to the Future post about the Promenade mall (the Topanga mall post will be coming at some point..I hope).

Do we really need another mall, Costco, hotel, and office space in Warner Center? Whats the impact to existing businesses? Whats the impact to traffic? Its going to be a nightmare especially if the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne site is converted to a hotel and apartment units. This area is going to be so packed, its not even funny. Avoid this area come Christmas time.

I am all for job growth, city tax revenue, beautification of this dump, and business development but at what cost and will this truly be "growth?" Will others suffer and be impacted including the impact to the environment and local traffic?

I hope the City Council thought hard about this decision. Am I the only one with these concerns?

Voice Your Concerns for the Proposed Village at Westfield Topanga

Tuesday, August 2, 2011 / No Comments

Mall developer Westfield is proposing a $450 million complex between its Topanga and Promenade Malls that is spread out over 31 acres. This Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Warner Center Marriott, there will be a public hearing whereby you have the opportunity to voice your concerns and view the environmental impact from Planning Department officials.

If approved, this project will be completed sometime between 2013 and 2016 which will include a 275 room hotel, 278,985 sqft of retail, 285,000 sqft of office space, a grocery store, movie theater, community building, six acres of open space and walkways, and a Costco (which may shut down the Canoga Park branch). Additionally, the new complex is expected to generate 3,000 construction jobs, 4,000 permanent positions, add $640 million to the local economy, and bring in $9.4 million in city tax revenue.

I had discussed this project before in the BTTF series for the Promenade Mall at Woodland Hills. At that time, I was unaware of a proposal by Pratt & Whitney to convert their Rocketdyne site (formerly owned by Boeing) into a 16 story hotel and 4,000 multifamily housing units. So while converting that dump in between the Topanga and Promenade malls into something usable, I cant help but ask, is this sustainable? Consider the following:

There is already an excess amount of housing units on the market that will take years to clear out,
There are plenty of shops to visit between the recently remodeled Topanga, Promenade, and Fallbrook malls notwithstanding the increased competition from the online world and the numerous mom and pop shops.
In terms of hotels, there is already the Marriot and the Hilton, Holiday Inn (on Ventura Blvd), and other hotel chains in the West Valley.

So I have some doubts on the actual demand for all this new complex especially in these difficult economic times. Maybe this site becomes viable but it comes at the expense of taking away business from other Mom and Pop shops and possibly the Promenade and Fallbrook malls. Also add in the traffic nightmare (especially if the Rocketdyne site gets converted to housing) and maybe this entire site becomes avoided, Christmas is bad as it is right now. Hopefully they extend the Orange Line to this area which currently starts/ends at the Promenade Mall.

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

News Ticker

Browsing "Older Posts"