Porter Ranch turned out in droves for the Big Reveal of the planned retail and entertainment center to be called The Village at Porter Ranch. Shapell Liberty Investment Properties presented their plan at the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council meeting September 2 for the large swath of land at the corner of Rinaldi and Porter Ranch Drive.
The presentation was kicked off to a standing room only crowd by Councilmember Mitchell Englander who reminded the everyone that the project had been approved by the City in 1990, well before his time, back when “Shapell owned Everything. Everything. Like Everything.” The ship has sailed on this project and now the focus is on how to make it a gathering place for Porter Ranch. In his quest to ensure the development of an upscale center for the community he has worked with Shapell, discarded countless vanilla proposals and even attended the International Shopping Center Convention.
John Love, Vice President, Commercial at Shapell began his presentation by explaining that the project was originally designed in 2005 with 2 million square feet in retail and entertainment space. In 2010 it was reduced to 400,000 square feet and today the plan calls for 345,000 square feet. While Shapell is approved to build 2 million square feet, they are choosing to move forward with a reduced footprint, as they feel that is the right design for this space. It should be noted that the current plan of 1,200 parking spaces actually calls for more spaces than the 2010 plan which had 1,100 full size spaces.
The retail area would be accessed from Rinaldi along a main street with diagonal parking, and adjacent stores. The main street ends in a roundabout/traffic circle adjacent to the village green, a gathering spot and possible location for concerts and ice skating. The main street could be closed off to car traffic to extend the footprint of a farmers market or other event.
Above: Layout of the Village
Along the north of the property would be the primary retail and entertainment destinations, with possibly a market on the west end, an 800 seat, 10 screen movie theater and community room near the village green and a few larger stores adjacent to Porter Ranch Drive. Additional stores and restaurants would be located near the Rinaldi entrance and at the corner of Porter Ranch Drive. Cars can enter across from Toys R Us where there will be a signal and at two places on Rinaldi, one of which will have a signal.
Above: Layout of the apartments
North of the retail area will be 12 apartment buildings, resident parking, and a pool. Across the street to the south, the plan calls for a five story hotel with 105 rooms, in the style of a Residence Inn, more retail and restaurants opposite the main street entrance, and a three story 50,000 square foot office building across from the current medical building, which is 70,000 square feet. The intent is to focus on the construction of the main village area first before proceeding to the development to the south of Rinaldi.
Above: Layout of south of Rinaldi, hotel, retail, office building
The lead architects on the project, Architects Orange, have designed the space to be pedestrian and bike friendly connecting with the Aldea residences and with the apartments by footpath. The main street sidewalk is extra wide creating opportunities for retailers and restaurants to use the sidewalks for patio seating or display of merchandise. Love likened the architecture to California Wine Country with exteriors in wood, corrugated metal and stone. As part of their emphasis on creating a destination, they brought in a wind consultant to identify how to best configure the space to minimize the impacts of Porter Ranch winds.
When outlining the timeline of the project, Love mentioned that plans for the project have been submitted to the City for approval. Shapell is currently seeking input from the community. If you have any feedback you would like to provide, you may send it to board [at] prnc.org, where it will be forwarded to Shapell. They expect to begin signing tenants in the next 30-60 days, have the plans approved by the end of 2015, break ground fall 2016, and open late 2017-early 2018.
Among the many questions posed by meeting attendees, were those concerned about solar and water usage. Shapell responded that roofs would be solar ready, but they would not finalize the solar as many tenants may already have national solar agreements in place. The landscaping is planned to be drought tolerant with the exception of the green itself. Watering will use grey water which will be built into the system. Shapell explained that it would be counterproductive to use permeable paving, as the soil on the property is not permeable. Water would just pool on the pavement.
Further, some were concerned about having apartments, rather than condos for sale, suggesting that apartments were not suitable for the site. In response, Love answered that the apartments would be high end apartments and an excellent entry point for new families to move into the area. They might then move up to condos and then houses.
Wrapping up, Love hinted that after or concurrently with construction they may remodel some aspects of the Town Center improving the shade, adding amenities and increasing patio gathering opportunities.
Overall, the crowd was excited to hear about the new plans for high end retail, dining and entertainment experiences in Porter Ranch.
Wendy Moore for the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council
Detailed Village Overview
Leasing site for the Village at Porter Ranch
Future Website for The Village at Porter Ranch
