A mostly abandoned mall in suburban Los Angeles may become the practice facility of Super Bowl champion L.A. Rams in another major redevelopment deal involving billionaire team owner and real estate tycoon Stan Kroenke.
The Rams’ owner is among several parties in talks to buy the 34-acre Westfield Promenade shopping mall in a deal that has been rumored for months, according to a person involved in negotiations. A deal has not been finalized, and no price has been disclosed.
A spokesperson for Kroenke could not be reached for comment, and a representative with Paris-based mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield declined to comment. Calls to the team were referred to Kroenke.
The Rams currently practice at Cal Lutheran University, a liberal arts school in Thousand Oaks, California, roughly 21 miles away from the mall site. The team’s contract with the university was signed in fall 2021 and expires in fall 2022. The contract allows for two consecutive renewals for up to three years total. Karin Grennan, the school’s media relations manager, declined to comment on whether that contract had been extended .
The team’s interest in the site was reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times.
Thousand Oaks officials were hopeful they could find a permanent location for the Rams and keep the practice facility in the Ventura County city, just across the county line from Los Angeles. The city’s economic development manager, Haider Alawami, told CoStar News the Rams have asked in the past about potential permanent sites, but no deal was ever reached and the city hasn’t heard from the team in recent months.
“The players and staff like the area and feel of the community,” Alawami said. “They definitely would like to stay in the area, but the decision would be up to the owner to decide where they want to go.”
The redevelopment of the Westfield Promenade has been in the works for years, and a development plan approved in December 2020 allows for apartments, hotel, Class A office, and a 10,000-seat sports venue, according to marketing materials. The mall’s redevelopment may create 10,800 jobs and $1.9 billion in economic output with $17.7 million in net new annual revenues to the general fund for the city of Los Angeles, according to marketing materials.
The Rams may be running a play in Woodland Hills similar to the team’s $5 billion SoFi Stadium development in Inglewood, California. The 70,000-seat stadium is surrounded by offices and is approved for the development of apartments and retail space in a larger mixed-use redevelopment of the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack.
Talks of the Rams deal comes months after the Chargers revealed it had selected a 14-acre headquarters site in El Segundo, California, that was a portion of a 30-acre former Raytheon campus. Construction is expected to start in 2022 and wrap up by spring 2024.
Author Credit: Jack Witthaus, CoStar