Rams owner Stan Kroenke escalates property buying spree in Woodland Hills

Rams owner Stan Kroenke has escalated his property buying spree in Woodland Hills with the $325-million purchase of an outdoor shopping center.

The Village deal, which closed last week, further signals the billionaire businessman’s intention to build a second sports-centric development like the one around SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

His company, the Kroenke Organization, now controls about 100 acres in Warner Center that are expected by real estate industry observers to become part of a sprawling mixed-use complex that may include stores, restaurants, hotels and residences, along with a training facility for the NFL football team. It could become one of the largest new real estate developments in the region.

The popular Village, completed in 2015, is next to the largely inactive Woodland Hills Promenade mall and an unoccupied high-rise office building, both of which Kroenke acquired last year.

The Rams owner’s purchase of the Village, above, further signals the billionaire’s intention to build a second sports-centric development like the one around SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

(Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield)

Representatives of the Kroenke Organization declined to elaborate on their plans for Warner Center but said in a statement that “we will continue to operate The Village as an open-air lifestyle and retail destination.”

The seller of the Village was Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, a Paris-based mall operator that said in April that it would unload all its U.S. properties and bet its future on Europe, where it is the largest owner of shopping centers.

The company still owns Westfield Topanga, another mall near Kroenke’s recent acquisitions. Other prominent neighbors are the Warner Center Towers office complex and a hotel, Warner Center Marriott Woodland Hills.

Los Angeles city officials are encouraging dense mixed-use development in the neighborhood that could include new housing, offices, shops, restaurants, hotel rooms and entertainment venues.

Assembling a 100-acre parcel that would be at the center of a more urban-feeling downtown for Woodland Hills is “pretty spectacular,” said retail property broker Bryan Ley of JLL, who was not involved in the sales.

“There are not many land sites sold around Los Angeles County that are 100 acres with this kind of density and location,” he said.

In Inglewood, Kroenke controls nearly 300 acres surrounding SoFi Stadium, in what was formerly the Hollywood Park horse racing venue. When the complex is completed, it will be 3½
times the size of Disneyland and contain a performance venue, hotel, stores, restaurants, offices, homes and a lake with waterfalls.

Kroenke is a longtime real estate developer whose company owns and operates retail centers in 39 states totaling 40 million square feet, according to the Unibail statement.