The first piece of a massive 24-acre residential, retail, and office project in Chatsworth is already in place. But there’s a lot more to come.
Ryan Hekmat and Jason Larian of Uncommon Developers gave a status update on their sprawling project at 20000 Prairie Street, the former home of a Los Angeles Times printing plant.
The plant has been renovated to serve as the headquarters of MGA Entertainment, the makers of big-eyed Bratz dolls. MGA Entertainment’s chief executive is Larian’s father, and this project in the northwestern San Fernando Valley—where big development projects are ramping up—will be Uncommon Development’s first “big test.”
MGA has rented all but 40,000 square feet of the 255,000-square-foot building. Larian says the remaining space will be marketed to “ancillary businesses in the creative industry,” like companies that develop video games.
Not far from the office building, 188 apartments are under construction as part of the first phase of the project’s residential portion. The apartments are on track to be completed in the summer, with the first residents slated to move in around August.
About 500 more apartments are planned as part of later phases of the four-building development, all of which are expected to be in place in 2022.
MGA employees will get first dibs on the apartments when they open and will get special rental rates as an incentive to move in. Larian and Hekmat note that the project is also near local colleges (California State University Northridge and Pierce College are both less than a 10 minute drive away), and they expect students to sign leases too.
The project will contain standard amenities (pools, outdoor spaces) but “24” will also include restaurants, an amphitheater for live performances, a preschool, and walking and exercise paths that wind throughout the development. There are also plans to host farmers markets.
“The neighborhood doesn’t have amenitized living like what we’re providing,” says Larian.
That might not be the case for much longer. To the south, in Warner Center, a steady rush of projects are unfurling, both in the works and under construction. The projects include a major redevelopment of Warner Center Corporate Park that will add a 24-story hotel, a trio of 15-story office buildings, and roughly 1,000 condos and apartments.