Resort-Convention Center Planned for Valencia

A resort-convention complex that probably will include four hotels, several office buildings, homes and two golf courses is being planned by the Valencia Co. on a 100-acre site it owns next to Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia, a company executive said Tuesday.

The project still is in the planning stages, but preliminary environmental and geological studies of the site are under way, said Gloria Casvin, vice president of planning for the company. Valencia Co. is the development arm of Newhall Land & Farming Co., the largest landowner in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Casvin said the proposed resort, west of the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) between Magic Mountain and McBean parkways also would include a scenic lake and an amphitheater for concerts and other events. Under consideration for the southern half of property is a planned residential development, which Casvin described as a “golf course community” with several types of homes, including luxury condominiums. The residences would be built around one of the golf courses.

Plans for the development will filed with Los Angeles County within three to four months, Casvin said. Because of final environmental reports, traffic studies and other state and county requirements, actual construction could not begin for about two years, she said, and the complex would be developed in stages over several years.

Casvin said company planners believe there is a market for this type of development in the rapidly growing Santa Clarita Valley. Los Angeles County planners recently estimated that the area will swell from its present population of about 103,000 to 213,000 by the year 2000.

The company also is “capitalizing on the popularity of Magic Mountain and the growth of Valencia Industrial Park” across the freeway, Casvin said. The Valencia Co. hopes to draw divisions of major corporations to the new office development, Casvin said.

The huge volume of traffic that could be generated by the development is a concern, Casvin said, but she added that she hopes that can be alleviated by improvements financed through the company’s contributions to a county transportation benefit assessment district.

The Valencia Co. already has spent $1.2 million for the construction of on- and off-ramps on the southbound Golden State Freeway at Rye Canyon Road to ease traffic at the Valencia Industrial Park, which also was developed by the company.