Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch to Add 12 New Sound Stages in the Santa Clarita Valley

Golden Oak Ranch in Santa Clarita to be expanded with the Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch project.

Disney and ABC have announced plans to expand their facilities at the Golden Oak Ranch, adding 12 new sound stages and other production facilities to their existing property near Highway 14 and Placerita Canyon in the Santa Clarita Valley. This expansion is expected to create over 3,100 jobs and bring $522 million of economic activity to the region during the constuction phase, and over 2,800 jobs and annual economic activity of $533 million once the new production facilities are in use.

The Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch is expected to remain as a private production facility, as Golden Oak Ranch has been in the past, due to liability and safety concerns. Since production facility vacancies in the region can fall as low as 1% at times, Disney and ABC plan to use the new facilities primarily for their own productions, but may rent out the facilities to other production companies at times.

The new facilities will be built on a 56-acre portion of the Golden Oak Ranch property, utilitizing about 6% of the 890-acre facility. Construction is expected to take environmental concerns into account, including minimizing energy and water usage, respecting the natural landscape, building according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, and locating projects so they have direct access to Highway 14.

Says Jason Crawford, the City of Santa Clarita’s economic development manager, “I think that now that Disney is committed to doing this, we’re going to see many post-production, visual effects and other film-related businesses that want to move here as well. That will have the single biggest impact on the Santa Clarita economy than anything I have seen since I’ve been here.”

This is great news for Santa Clarita residents, as this facility will generate an estimated 2,854 full and part-time jobs after build-out is complete, with an estimated $200,000 in annual revenues going to the City of Santa Clarita and $1.3 million in annual revenues going to Los Angeles County. It’s hard to say when construction will begin though, since the normal permitting and approval processes have to be completed first, and that could take years. There will be opportunities for public input and review of the environmental impact reports as the project progresses.