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# New developments will make impact felt in SoCal
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-developments-will-make-impact-felt-in-socal/
- Published: 2004-04-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:56:19.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Downtown, #archive-import

*By Christina S. Porter*

Four, new large master-planned communities are about to break or have broken ground in Southern California.

Collectively, these projects will have a significant impact upon the basin’s real estate market, just like the master-planned communities that have preceded them, including the Irvine Ranch, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, The Foothill Ranch and Valencia.

The new communities are Newhall Ranch (to the west of Valencia), Playa Vista (in West Los Angeles, adjacent to Marina del Rey), the former Tustin Marine Corp Air Station (MCAS) and the former El Toro MCAS (both in Orange County). These four projects will add about 35,000 residential units (approximately the equivalent of the City of Simi Valley or of Newport Beach) and 25 million square feet of commercial space. They also will provide land for three colleges or universities, as well as 9,700 acres of open space — the equivalent of more than two Griffith Parks. Here’s a look at two of them. Next week, we’ll profile the other two.

NEWHALL RANCH Newhall Ranch is to the west of Valencia and Magic Mountain, approximately 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It straddles Highway 126 to the Ventura County line and consists of 19 square miles. Newhall Ranch is under the same ownership as Valencia (Newhall Land). Its specific plan and environmental impact report were approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in May 2003\. The EIR was ruled sufficient by the Kern County Superior Court in October 2003\. However, that ruling is currently under appeal. Assuming that the appeal is resolved over the next nine months, ground breaking is scheduled to take place by 2007.

When complete (approximately 20 to 25 years after ground-breaking), Newhall Ranch will contain approximately 21,000 housing units, 60,000 residents, 10 million square feet of commercial space and 19,000 employees. For comparison purposes, the residential component will be roughly the same size as Valencia, which currently has approximately 16,000 housing units and 48,000 residents (and, upon completion, will have 23,000 housing units and 69,000 residents). However, its commercial and industrial development will be less intense. Valencia currently has 20 million square feet of commercial space (and another 15 million square feet yet to be built) and 48,000 employees. About 6,100 acres will be set aside for open space, and a trail system with approximately 50 miles of trails will be developed.

PLAYA VISTA After more than 25 years of planning and extensive entitlement work, Playa Vista finally broke ground in 2002\. As of April 2004, 1,500 residential units had been completed, including 900 rental units and 600 owner-occupied units, as well as 220,000 square feet of office space. In the remainder of 2004, an additional 350 rental units and 600 for-sale units will come on line. Build-out of Phase I (3,200 units total and an additional 35,000 square feet of retail space) is expected in 2007\. Playa Vista is the first new community to be established on the Westside of Los Angeles in more than 50 years, and the response from the market has been immediate. Established apartments are now 90 percent occupied and are commanding $2 to $2.50 per square foot in rents. The for-sale units sold quickly, and of the 600 units delivered to date, only 40 are unsold. The price range of the units sold was from the low-$200,000’s to over $1 million, with a median price of $550,000.

On a per-square-foot basis, the units sold for $275 to $400 per square foot, with a median of $325\. The vast majority of the housing is attached product. Land prices ranged from $3 million to $6 million per buildable acre, significantly exceeding pro-forma expectations. A high percentage — about 50 percent — of the buyers were former renters, indicating that the project tapped into a large pool of pent-up demand. This was reinforced by the low mortgage rates of the early 2000s. A high percentage — 90 percentage — do not have children living at home, and it is estimated that there are more pets in the community than there are children. In fact, the planners of Playa Vista anticipated this, and a “bark-park” is included in Phase I. The buyers also tend to belong to two cohorts: Young professional adults, ages 25-35, and older professional adults and empty-nesters, ages 45-60.

The builders in the community include some of Southern California’s leading firms, including Standard Pacific, Greystone/Lennar, K.B. Homes, D.R. Horton/Western Pacific and Shea Homes. Many of these builders see Playa Vista as an opportunity to gain experience in building higher density, infill housing. Phase II is scheduled to start in 2007 and to be completed by 2010, assuming approval of the project’s tentative map and EIR. An additional 2,600 residential units will be completed in that phase, as well as approximately 150,000 to 200,000 square feet of local-serving retail space. Playa Vista also has entitlements for 3.2 million square feet of office space, primarily in the eastern-most portion of the community in the area surrounding the “Spruce Goose” hangars. The exact timing on this space is still to be determined. Playa Vista will provide approximately 700 acres of open space, including a restored wetlands area. Prime parcels of land adjacent to the wet-lands and to Marina del Rey, which had been planned for development, have recently been sold to public interest groups for parkland. (Christina S. Porter specializes in the leasing and selling of office and industrial buildings on the Westside of Los Angeles and beyond. You can contact her at)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 28, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042804.pdf?ref=smdp.com)