- The original plan for Valencia centered on a high density concept, but was realized in the cul-de-sac suburban form we know and love (or love to hate).
The final three housing developments carrying the Valencia brand are West Creek, West Hills, and RiverVillage.
Lennar is the exclusive builder on these three tracts and presently the only active builder in Valencia. Lennar also has a 15% stake in Newhall Land through a complex series of transactions involving CalPERS, a parent entity “LandSource,” bankruptcy and a number of creditors.
Building in each tract has been slowed to snail’s pace though The Signal’s coverage of their recent earnings call brings a bit of welcome light to the otherwise dim housing story (“Lennar Posts Profit, CEO Upbeat“). The Signal, in quoting Marlee Lauffer and drawing from Newhall Land’s well-known intentions with Newhall Ranch, does a decent job bringing local focus to a largely national real estate story.
This past week, Lennar consolidated all of its sales efforts for Valencia into one sales office directly across from Rio Norte Middle School.
Even with 25%-ish commercial RE vacancy, a “For Lease – Future West Creek Retail” sign stands swaying in the weed-filled lot adjacent the Tesoroplex and the now-empty Starbucks. The number of unbuilt homesites in these three developments is probably in the hundreds; the “final chapter” of Valencia’s residential build-out may take a few years to finally complete, though one can’t help but feel bittersweet emotions as the iconic, master-planned super-suburb prepares to enter another era of maturation — its first sans development. West Creek Elementary will probably be the last school built for Valencia (much to the dismay of Bouquet Canyon-area residents).
The long- and short-term forces are juxtaposed in a sort of Mexican stand off, with the inevitability of progress and setbacks of our ecomonic reality unflinchingly staring at each other in the face.
Long-time SCVTalkers, John Boston followers and SCV history buffs alike know well that Valencia was envisaged as what would now be called “smart growth” development.
Noted in the SCV History site and referenced in the headline pic:
The original concept called for much more dense and housing with a higher population than was actually built: high-rise apartments for some 200,000 people, surrounded by wide open spaces.
In thinking about the fascinating coda to Valencia that is Newhall Ranch, I can’t help but correlate the communities of Highlands Ranch and RidgeGate (in the neighboring city of Lone Tree) in Colorado. Highlands Ranch, which was developed by The Mission Viejo Company (yes, that Mission Viejo), is a Valencia-ish master planned suburb full of stucco boxes and cul-de-sacs. RidgeGate is a self-described “Eco Smart” community with all the buzzwords you’d attach to new-fangled “smart growth” development. I last visited RidgeGate two years ago when the bubble burst; though it has had its struggles, it appears the development is well on its way toward completion, though with notable mods to the timeline.
Although every new development website makes their respective community seem like the perfect utopia, RidgeGate is at least differentiated from its much-maligned Highlands Ranch neighbor. Yes, lots are small and quarters are tight. That’s a non-starter for some; but for the rest, the concept of having everything a walk away is a welcome change. For those with the misfortune of working in the city, light rail was extended to accommodate the development, as was significant freeway infrastructure (including a brand new interchange).
Newhall Ranch still has a ways to go before breaking serious ground; but we all feel the drumbeat pounding – particularly as the development in Valencia ends its near-half-century run. Let’s just hope We need to demand that the infrastructure is ready, abundant, and built-to-scale.
Great post.
I think it’s a testament to NLF that Valencia has survived several boom and bust cycles since it was built 40+ years ago.
Contrast that with many of the ‘smart growth’ developments in the Inland Empire that are now essentially ghost towns and will likely never recover. Hell in some areas they are destroying 5 year old houses rather than selling them.
I love Valencia and aspire to live there someday but it’s hard for me to reconcile its contradictions. If I were committed solely to driving a car forever, it’d be wonderful. But as a transit/alternate transportation advocate, it’s incompatible with efficient transportation modes and I don’t picture that ever changing, unless gas prices zoom north of where they were in 2008.
I know Newhall Ranch is supposed to solve this problem through the “village” model, but, let’s face it, people who buy in the suburbs don’t want high density. Bottom line.
The “Village” concept is just a way to cluster higher density than would otherwise be allowed by the General Plan. Don’t be fooled.
Also, does this valley, already with depressed housing prices, want to dump thousands of more units onto the market? Do you WANT to subsidize Lennar profits through your lower property values?
There are thousands of APPROVED housing units that can be built as soon as the economy picks up and they perceive demand. This without a single Newhall Ranch house being built.
Don’t confuse “healthy local real estate market” with “new housing building boom.” They are two different animals, one aiding the community, one enrichening an out of state corporation.
Also, the original Valencia had canals. Really. Canals. It was to have a lot of water features and even travel between areas by small boats. Just the thing in this water-poor region!
And NLF had the audacity to use the slogan “Valencia, built as planned” in their advertisements of a couple of years ago!
That’s just it, they weren’t smart growth. or they were about as smart growth as Palmer’s Las Lomas was “smart.”
One thing that always really pissed me off whenever I heard “Built as Promised” is the fact that NLF never built sidewalks in the Industrial Center. I mean seriously, no sidewalks. What the hell? I realize people don’t walk much there but when they do, there’s nothing to walk on.
I went through my ballots for the Open space initiative and have found how many single family residents and condos have already been approved by the city, for building in the city, as of 2008. Most of these have not yet been built.
Whitaker Bermite – 2911
NLF(Lennar) River Village – 1089
NLF (Lennar)Soledad Village – 407
PacSun LLC (Golden Vly Rnch) – 499
Keystone – 499
Soledad Canyon Ari LLC – 147
If my math is correct that is a total of 5552 residences that are already approved within city limits. I know a few have been built in River Village, but most of the land over there looks pretty barren. I have to be honest in that I don’t know the status of all the others, but I believe that the majority of the approved houses have not yet been built. SpineFlower is right on in the statement that thousands have been approved and not yet built.
I don’t care whether the unneeded new houses are inside or outside of NLF’s land ownership… they add supply without demand and depress prices. This is another example of corporate welfare at the expense of existing homeowners. Do YOU feel like making a donation of thousands of dollars to NLF (in the form of lost equity)? I don’t.
NLF has bloated population projections using outdated models and wishful thinking supplied by SCAG and the rest of the building industry lobby. Don’t be fooled.
And remember, these are the same clowns that overbuilt and contributed in a big way to the housing bubble due to oversupply. Why believe their supply/demand projections now? About like believing GM’s marketing experts, or the bank’s self-regulators.
Jim, the approved housing OUTside City limits is several times that you cite for inside the City. We can fill demand for another 15 years if we didn’t build a single new house.
Do you think an out of state builder corporation cares what they do to the home values of existing residents? Of course not! They are here to sell new homes and get out of town before the next bubble bursts. NLF isn’t even building Newhall Ranch; they are just obtaining entitlements and selling it to other builders for completion.
This is NOT your dad’s “Valencia” at work…
We’re in agreement spineflower. “Valencia” is not what it used to be. I live in Northbridge which I believe is the last tract built by NLF before it sold to Lennar. While Valencia did not live up to the grandios goals envisioned in the 60′s, at least it kept the Paseo system and is one of the nicer devolpments in the valley. The Paseo system disappears in the tracts built by Lennar to the North after Northbridge Pointe.
I have major concerns about the Newhall Ranch development and its impact on our valley. Now it’s been reported Lennar turned a profit for the last quarter 2009. I hope that is not a sign the development is comming sooner.
the paseo was the best idea NL&F ever had. The newer the development, the less a priority, unfortunately. Those old areas of Valencia have a really cool system.
Having grown up in the Valencia area, I couldn’t agree more – it’s time we demand that this infrastructure development is properly managed. Great article!