Ground Breaks on $150M Mixed-Use Project in Suburban LA

By Barbra Murray

The Vineyards at Porter Ranch

Ten years in the making, the 345,000-square-foot The Vineyards at Porter Ranch mixed-use project in the San Fernando Valley area of metropolitan Los Angeles, just took a big step toward realization. Developer Shapell Liberty Investment Properties, a joint venture of Shapell Properties and Liberty Building Co., held a groundbreaking ceremony for the luxury $150 million project. 

Originally named the Village at Porter Ranch, The Vineyards will be a live-work-play destination within the upscale Porter Ranch master planned community. The project will feature a 266-unit apartment complex, a 120-key hotel, a 50,000-square-foot medical office building housing Kaiser Permanente and, as its centerpiece, a 215,000-square-foot open-air shopping center.

“The Vineyards will be a sophisticated, pedestrian-oriented retail experience that not only will serve as a central gathering spot for Porter Ranch residents, but also as the prime choice for higher-end shops and restaurants serving this entire region,” John Love, vice president of Shapell Properties Inc., said in a prepared statement.

The Vineyards’ retail segment, which will count Whole Foods as an anchor, will likely receive a warm welcome, as the metropolitan Los Angeles retail market is thriving–and the San Fernando Valley area is no exception. The average shopping center retail vacancy rate in San Fernando Valley is just 3.6 percent and nearly 85 percent of the product presently under construction in the submarket is already pre-leased.

The Vineyards will also be a model of sustainability, with solar panel arrays, a rainwater capture and irrigation recycling system and electric car charging stations.

If all goes as planned, The Vineyards will make its debut with the opening of its shopping center in late 2018, followed by the hotel and apartment complex in 2020.

Image courtesy of Shapell Liberty Investment Properties