Los Angeles CA
1-02-2023 1:28am

The $650 Million Warner Center Purchases of Stan Kroenke

The opposition by a few large landholders, who preferred the SFV for agricultural use, stymied its early growth. One hundred years later a large landowner will direct its future growth.

Ten years ago, public TV station KCET ran a feature program on the history of Canoga Park/Owensmouth, on the 100th anniversary of the community. They cited a LA Times article describing the onset of real estate transactions in March 1912 "Captains of industry who belong to the master builders of the Western Empire made the new town, but God alone could have fashioned its site, as only He could have made the perfect day which marked its bright beginning."

Recent news of Stan Kroenke's end of the year purchase of the Village has escalated the discussion about the footprint he now owns; an area that has been the site developers & planners, since the 1970's, have sought to make into a master eat-work-play community.

  1. Mar 2022 Rams owner Stan Kroenke bought Woodland Hills Promenade mall (usatoday.com) $175M
  2. Jun 2022 Stan Kroenke bought Woodland Hills property for possible Rams HQ (usatoday.com) $150M
  3. Dec 2022 Stan Kroenke Buys The Village in Woodland Hills for $325M (therealdeal.com)

Evidence of the continuation of a city-within-a-city dream was evident in the various articles from October & November 2021 describing meetings to suggest the power & impact of Warner Center in the drawing out of a city council district.  

It could take as little as 10 years before the vision of Stan Kroenke is completed and an additional number of years before it returns a profit. All within the parameters of the ubiquitous 2035 plan so many cities have developed and signed onto. 

While the same people who fought the construction of Costco, through the courts, no longer have the breath or scope of power to thwart Kroenke it remains to be seen if a new group will stymie the project.  Albeit some neighbors questioned if collusion existed between opponents of the Costco and the defendants, to create a controlled opposition thus limiting the scope of further or any objections.

The prior vision for the Warner Center area included a 15,000 seat stadium and new construction enabling 20,000 residents in multi-story structures:

As the area is on the threshold of a very drastic change, it may benefit current residents and those implementing Kroenke's vision to hold some respect to the century of history that details who and how so many were able to afford a life and home in a small community that had and will continue to have international impact.

The Canoga Owensmouth Historical Society website has been morphed into the Canoga Park Chamber BUT the USC library website details the COHS history and museum focus.

"The Canoga-Owensmouth Historical Society's collection contains 

  • Photographs & Displays covering the time span of inhabitants
    • Chumash Indians
    • Mexican Rancho era
    • Dry Farmers & Grain Growers (1800's)
    • Aerospace industry employees (1950's & 1960's)
  • Books
    • High school yearbooks from 1916 to the 1950s (Canoga Park High School founded in 1914)
  • Pamphlets & Ephemera
    • Chamber of Commerce
    • Lion' s Club
    • And other organization
  • Documents
    • Publications of the Canoga Park Women's Club (founded in 1914)
    • Thesis on the development of the town
    • Clippings & scrapbooks
    •  
  • Artifacts
  • Oral interviews dealing with the history of the West San Fernando Valley, with emphasis on the area that was originally known as Owensmouth and is now called Canoga Park. 

 Canoga Park at 100: A Brief History of the Birth of Owensmouth | KCET

"Owensmouth was at the vanguard of a land boom in the San Fernando Valley. For decades, two factors prevented development in the Valley: its remote location, separated by the Santa Monica Mountains from the population and business center of Los Angeles; and the opposition of a few large landholders, who preferred to maintain the valley for agricultural use. "

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