Plans From Parkview Financial Join Growing Demand for Woodland Hills Region
A two-story commercial center at 22015 Vanowen St. in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley may transform into apartments. (CoStar)
By Jack Witthaus
CoStar News
January 11, 2024 | 11:51 AM
A newly proposed multifamily project is the latest planned development for Los Angeles' fast-growing Woodland Hills neighborhood, where billionaire Stan Kroenke is building a future training hub for his Rams football team.
Los Angeles-based lender Parkview Financial plans to realize 211 apartments at 22015 Vanowen St., according to city of Los Angeles documents, about a mile from the roughly 100-acre, mixed-use development site where Kroenke plans to build the Rams a new practice facility.
The 1-acre site of the proposed eight-story building — located across the street from the Westfield Topanga shopping mall — currently holds a two-story, 21,800-square-foot commercial building.
Sports teams are increasingly popular anchor tenants for mixed-use developments across the United States, with baseball and football team owners constructing commerce centers around stadiums and other sports uses, like training facilities or offices.
Kroenke most notably deployed this development strategy in Inglewood, Los Angeles, home to his $5 billion SoFi Stadium development, where the Rams and Los Angeles Chargers play. That project is approved for apartments and retail space as part of the redevelopment of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood.
In 2022, Kroenke kicked off his Woodland Hills plans with the $150 million purchase of the 34-acre Westfield Promenade shopping mall, and has since purchased nearly 70 additional acres in Woodland Hills. That has in part spurred additional investor demand, resulting in $1.7 billion in real estate transaction volume in Woodland Hills since 2022, according to CoStar data.
That shopping mall purchase came about two years after the seller won approvals for a redevelopment that would see apartments, a hotel, offices and a 100,000-seat venue built at the retail site.
Just ahead of that green light, in August 2020, Parkview Financial paid $6.4 million for its commercial site, according to CoStar data. The property is roughly 27 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The proposed multifamily development will set aside 26 units for very low income households, and will include a 1,200-square-foot cafe, an outdoor plaza, a pool deck and other amenities, according to city documents, along with 137 planned parking spaces.
A Parkview Financial representative didn't respond to an emailed request for comment from CoStar News.
The Woodland Hills apartment market has 6.9% vacancy, higher than the greater Los Angeles average of 5%, according to CoStar data. The market's average asking rent is $2,578, above the greater L.A. average of $2,221.
Parkview Financial isn't new to the area; in 2022, the company provided a $28 million loan to Los Angeles developer Sandstone Properties for a 35-story apartment project and four-story hotel in downtown Woodland Hills.
“Although downtown Woodland Hills has seen a surge in the development of mid-rise apartments over the past few years, a high-rise tower and a luxury hotel don’t currently exist," Parkview Financial CEO Paul Rahimian said in a press release at the time. "We believe this project will provide much-needed housing and lodging space that will enhance the area.”
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