Stan Kroenke buys The Village in Woodland Hills for $325M

Outdoor mall part of $650M investment by LA Rams owner in west San Fernando Valley

Stan Kroenke and The Village at 6220--6344 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard (Westfield, Getty)
Stan Kroenke and The Village at 6220--6344 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard (Westfield, Getty)

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke has blitzed another San Fernando Valley real estate buy with a $325 million purchase of The Village, an outdoor shopping mall in Woodland Hills.

The billionaire businessman bought the 600,000-square-foot mall at 6220-6344 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard, the Commercial Observer reported. The seller was Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, based in Paris.

The acquisition of the seven-year-old shopping center adds to Kroenke’s growing west Valley real estate holdings.

In March, a Kroenke affiliate bought The Promenade, a defunct indoor mall just south of The Village for $150 million. He plans to convert the mall at 6100 North Topanga Canyon into a 34-acre practice field and headquarters for the Rams.

In June, Kroenke rushed again with a $175 million purchase of a 13-story office building next door at 21555 Oxnard Street. The 450,000-square-foot former Anthem Blue Cross building just east of The Promenade is surrounded by 32 acres of landscaped parking. It is currently vacant.

His latest purchase of The Village spans 30 acres bounded by Victory Boulevard to the north, Erwin Street to the south, Topanga to the west and Owensmouth Avenue to the east. It’s squeezed between the Promenade zombie mall and the Westfield Topanga mall, not included in the deal.

The Village, built at a cost of $350 million and anchored by Costco, opened in 2015 as an “open-air lifestyle destination.” An interior walkway includes koi ponds, water features, pet stops and bocce ball next to around 100 stores and restaurants.

Current tenants include a 24 Hour Fitness, Burke Williams spa, REI and Crate & Barrel.

The purchase brings Kroenke’s Warner Center investment to $650 million across 96 contiguous acres just north of the 101 Freeway.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

It comes as Kroenke wraps up SoFi Stadium, which opened in summer 2020 and where his Rams clinched Super Bowl LVI last year.

The 70,000-square-foot stadium is the centerpiece of a $5 billion, 300-acre mixed-use complex dubbed Hollywood Park. The Inglewood development will include 5 million square feet of offices, 890,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a 300-room hotel and up to 2,500 homes.

Although the Kroenke Group has not revealed development plans in Woodland Hills, the company is widely expected to build a smaller version of its 300-acre SoFi sports campus in the west Valley.

Other plans for the neighborhood include a proposed $1 billion complex on Warner Center Lane with offices, stores, restaurants, residences and a hotel that would replace a 1980s-era office park across from Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills. A hotel is also planned at the former Fry’s Electronics store across from the former Anthem building.

With the sale of The Village, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has now completed $1.1 billion of its planned reduction in its U.S. portfolio, including the sales of Westfield Santa Anita for $537.5 million, the Promenade development, the Palisade residential building for $238 million, and five other regional properties, according to the Observer.

Aside from the Rams, Kroenke and his family have interests in the English Premier League’s Arsenal F.C., the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, along with other several franchises and esports teams.

Kroenke married into the founding family of Wal-Mart stores – his wife is Ann Walton Kroenke. He made his first fortune developing shopping centers anchored by the retailer.

— Dana Bartholomew

Read more