Developer titan Stan Kroenke made good on years of speculation last week when he announced a 52-acre development in Woodland Hills on properties he spent years scooping up.
The Los Angeles Rams owner will build what the Kroenke Organization is calling Rams Village in the Warner Center area of Woodland Hills. The Gensler-designed project will, similarly to Kroenke’s other recent developments, include a mix of entertainment and sports venues, retail space, residential units and open park space.
In the announcement, Kroenke highlighted that as the Rams prepare for their 10th season back in Los Angeles, his organization remains “committed to helping shape the future of this great city.”
“Rams Village at Warner Center will continue to transform Woodland Hills by providing a vibrant gathering place for the community through publicly accessible open spaces, new entertainment venues, a retail village, and residential offerings,” he added in a statement.
Planning a village
The anchor for Rams Village will, naturally, be the permanent headquarters facility of the football team.
The Rams established a temporary base of operations on one of Kroenke’s properties in time for the previous NFL season. The two outdoor practice fields will remain and the plan is to add an additional 150,000-square-foot indoor field with seating for 2,500 guests. In addition to the 350,000-square-foot headquarters building itself, plans call for two indoor performance venues, one with 5,000 seats and the other with 2,500 seats.
An existing building on this lot, usually called the Anthem building since it previously housed the health insurer, will remain and be used for office space. Kroenke’s business empire acquired this lot in June 2022 for $175 million.
The lot across the street – currently home to the essentially dead Promenade shopping mall – will see a complete transformation. Replacing the mall will be a variety of residential buildings, mixed use retail with a grocery store, new hotels, offices and a park. There will be more than 3 million square feet of residential units and nearly 2 million square feet of retail, office, hotel and entertainment space. There will also be more than 4 acres of publicly accessible open space.
Kroenke scooped up the Promenade lot in March 2022 for $150 million. In December 2022, he also acquired the thriving Village at Topanga for $325 million; he plans to keep that outdoor shopping mall as-is.
Fulfilling a plan
Kroenke’s plans seem to fulfill in spirit the dream by city officials to make the Warner Center the downtown of the San Fernando Valley. The Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan calls for developing that part of Woodland Hills as such, adding residential, office and retail space to the center.
Rams Village bears resemblance to another major project – Hollywood Park – by Kroenke’s organizations. Anchored by SoFi Stadium, the site also boasts the YouTube Theater, the Cosm sports entertainment venue, luxury apartments and a retail center anchored by a movie theater and a gym.
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, saw the comparison as a positive sign of things to come.
“There are tons of people who lives locally who are working down there. It’s a place to be all the time,” Waldman said. “They’ve really altered the face of Inglewood and I think they’ll do the same for the West Valley.”
