Regional Mall to Be Built Near Santa Clarita

A San Francisco Bay area commercial and residential developer on Friday announced plans to build a 100-acre regional mall outside Santa Clarita--the second such shopping center planned for construction in the 1990s in the fast-growing area.

The Santa Clarita Valley lacks an enclosed shopping mall, but Friday’s announcement could set the stage for competition between two proposed malls to lure major department stores to anchor their projects.

The Santa Fe Development Co.’s plans announced Friday call for an upscale mall on the eastern end of the valley, east of Golden Valley Road and the Antelope Valley Freeway.

The mall, still being planned, would be part of a 1,300-acre project that would include an 18-hole golf course, an undetermined number of houses and condominiums and perhaps office space, said Chuck Campbell, director of planning for Keith Companies, a consultant to Santa Fe.

Newhall Land and Farming Co., the valley’s major developer, plans to launch the first phase of its $180-million mall with the opening of a May Co. store in the fall of 1991. The mall, which is to include more than 100 shops and six major department stores, would be built near McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard on the western side of Santa Clarita.

Campbell said Santa Fe is still conducting demographic studies on the valley’s retail market but hopes to attract upscale department stores. He said negotiations with some department stores have begun but declined to name the companies participating in those talks.

He said he doubted that the Santa Clarita Valley could support two malls in the near future and acknowledged that Santa Fe and Newhall Land will be competing to attract anchors, large department stores that are essential to a mall’s success.

Gloria Glenn, a vice president of Newhall Land and Farming, declined to comment on the Santa Fe mall, saying her company knew nothing about the proposal.

The Santa Fe property is in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, but the company has asked to be annexed to the city of Santa Clarita. The Santa Clarita City Council approved the request Dec. 12 and forwarded it to the Local Agency Formation Commission, which rules on annexations.

Campbell said he could not predict when the mall would be built, saying the start of construction would be tied to negotiations with department stores that might occupy the mall.

A third mall is under construction in Palmdale in the Antelope Valley. Everett Shine, a vice president with Forest City, the company building the first enclosed mall in that valley, said he doubted the Santa Fe project would affect the $75-million shopping center, which is scheduled to open in September.