The Avenue at Santa Clarita graphic courtesy of Monteverde Companies.

Monteverde Companies has finally submitted its plans for The Avenue at Santa Clarita (previously called The Commons) to be built on the old Smiser Mule Ranch property at Calgrove and Interstate 5.

Monteverde's plans for this property have been public for months now, with mock-ups and other visuals available for viewing in their temporary offices on the Smiser Ranch site, as well as at presentations at meetings for the West Ranch Town Council and the like.

The final plans include about 2.5 million square feet of buildable area, with proposals to include the following:

• 300-room hotel and conference center
• Over 1.2 million square feet of office and retail space (including a 143,000sf anchor store)
• Fitness center (presumably a redesigned Santa Clarita Athletic Club)
• 75,000 square feet of restaurant space
• Up to 800 townhomes or condos, with the possibility of 250 of these allocated to seniors
• 5,300 parking spaces

According to the developers, this mixed-use property will be set up "village-style with an interior water-themed walkway, enhanced by wood, stone and native landscaping, that will run the length of the property and feature gathering places, outdoor living rooms, and trees and foliage that reflect the area’s heritage and topography."

As part of this development, Calgrove will be widened from the freeway to Wiley Canyon to provide access to The Avenue at Santa Clarita while hopefully minimizing the impact on the nearby residential communities. According to the sales copy, "The Avenue at Santa Clarita is an innovative mixed-use development designed to offer high-end office, retail, hotel, entertainment and residential opportunities in a highly walkable, dynamic urban village environment."

In a project of this size, there are always positive and negative aspects to consider. On the positive side, this project will create new jobs (4,000 projected) and additional sales tax dollars to the City of Santa Clarita (it's located within City limits). The plans are supposed to keep the higher-density portions of the project closer to the freeway side, instead of next to nearby residences.

On the other side of the coin, this project proposes buildings up to 12 stories tall, which is significantly higher than anything else currently existing within the Santa Clarita area. And regardless of how they handle the widening of Wiley Canyon, it will be close to impossible to have zero impact on those residences.

The plans for The Avenue at Santa Clarita were submitted to the City of Santa Clarita on November 20, 2007, so there will likely be many revisions to these plans before they are accepted. The project will be completed in phases, with apparent plans to complete a portion of the retail and office space first.

How does this affect other retail plans for the City of Santa Clarita? Shopaholics will likely rejoice, with The Avenue at Santa Clarita and the expansion of the Valencia Town Center Mall adding plenty of new destinations for veteran shoppers. Those banking on the success of the Old Town Newhall Redevelopment Project will be finding themselves facing new challenges in attracting the hoped-for upscale retailers to that area.