WESTFIELD MALL Remake

 Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is in the process of transforming a former 160,000-square-foot Sears department store into an upscale dining and entertainment district at its Westfield Topanga & The Village shopping center in Woodland Hills. 

“We are driving hard and the building’s looking really good,” said Westfield Senior Vice President of Development Kim Brewer. 

The redevelopment, which began a year ago with an estimated cost of $250 million, promises sit-down restaurants with sleek lounges, retail boutiques, movie theaters, a bowling alley and landscaped indoor and outdoor public spaces and plazas, according to the company.  

Among the more than 60 new additions to the district will be a 7,500-square-foot luxury Hermès boutique slated for 2023; a 55,000-square-foot, 12-screen upscale AMC Theatres location; Chicago-based dining and entertainment complex Pinstripes; and a 20,734 square-foot Arhaus showroom. 

Westfield sees the new addition as an extension of the Westfield Topanga mall. 

“The project does not have a name,” Brewer said. “We are constructing a food hall. That will have a name.” 

The renovation will also feature a grand entrance for Westfield Topanga, with a triple-height entryway made of floating panes of glass and transparent lattices, giving the entire center a street-facing focal point set back from the corner of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Victory Boulevard. 

In addition, the new district will have improved connectivity with The Village, with better pedestrian access to welcome guests traveling by foot and trolley between both properties. 

“There’ll be a sidewalk connecting from the entry to the mall to Victory Boulevard to the Village,” Brewer said. “We’re able to turn part of the project outward facing.” 

June opening

The first phase of this new addition to the Westfield Topanga and The Village retail centers is scheduled for completion in June. 

“We could not be more excited to finally unlock the full potential of this space and refashion it into something completely fresh and far more relevant and engaging for the community and our customers,” Larry Green, then-executive vice president of development at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said in a January 2021 statement. “For residents across the San Fernando Valley and wider L.A. region, the chance to enjoy world-class dining and social entertainment experiences without having to travel far from home will be a game-changer.” 

The project at 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd. will feature a chef-driven Food Hall. 

“For Topanga (Westfield), this project brings a great entertainment component which Topanga did not have,” Brewer explained. “Topanga has always been very strong with fashion. This project brings the next layer of entertainment to Topanga.” 

That will include more options of where to eat. 

“We will have five restaurants as well as the Food Hall,” Brewer said. “We know there has been a desire for more restaurants based on the research we’ve done.” 

Despite the pandemic, this project has remained on course with no major slowdowns or obstacles.

“The team has done an incredible job getting ahead of COVID,” Brewer said. “It’s definitely been a delicate balance to complete the schedule and manage the workforce and meet everyone’s expectations.” 

This redevelopment, to complement Westfield’s existing malls, is outside the purview of the previously announced $1.5 billion investment into re-doing the adjacent 34-acre Westfield Promenade property as a live/work/play concept, known as the Promenade 2035 plan. Construction on that project has not yet started. 

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield continues to build and renovate in Woodland Hills despite an announcement last year in which Chief Executive Jean-Marie Tritant announced that his company would be shedding itself of its U.S. assets.  

“We are assessing all potential options. At the end of the day, exposure to the U.S. will be minimal, if not zero,” Tritant said during a February 2021 press conference. 

By last April, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield killed its plans for a major expansion at Westfield Valencia Town Center where the renovation of its Patios Connection would have included a 101,000-square-foot Costco Warehouse. 

However, the expansion at Westfield Topanga is moving ahead and will roll out on schedule. 

“It’s a really exciting project,” Brewer said. “It’s our largest project under construction that we have in the U.S.”