May 20, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode of The Voices of Business, host Joshua Maddux welcomes Bryan Touchstone, the General Manager of Valencia Town Center. Bryan brings over 35 years of experience in commercial retail management, having worked across the country in cities from Buffalo to Denver and now Santa Clarita. With a diverse background that spans radio broadcasting, accounting, and mall management, Bryan shares his professional journey, his passion for creating meaningful retail experiences, and the evolving role of Valencia Town Center in the heart of the community.
What You Will Learn:
- How Bryan’s career path moved from DJing to CPA to leading major mall properties
- What drew him to Santa Clarita and Valencia Town Center specifically
- The mall's transformation over the decades and community-centered programming
- Upcoming events and future redevelopment plans for Valencia Town Center
- The importance of fostering strong community partnerships through events and outreach
Episode Highlights:
- [00:03:00] Bryan shares his early career journey from radio to real estate via a telemarketing job.
- [00:07:30] What made Bryan choose Santa Clarita and his excitement about the area's growth and potential.
- [00:10:50] The social importance of Valencia Town Center and how the mall fosters community ownership.
- [00:14:30] Events and experiences the mall offers, including Slice House, Beats & Eats, and charity collaborations.
- [00:17:00] A walk through the mall’s physical evolution, including the patios and historical carousel.
- [00:22:00] The strategy behind community partnerships, like the Wish Foundation and LEAP Museum.
- [00:27:00] Discussion on redevelopment: planning stages, community expectations, and adapting to new shopping trends.
- [00:36:00] Bryan and Joshua explore the role of podcasting in building relationships and community engagement.
Featured Quotes:
“There’s not a single thing I would do over—even if I had the choice.” – Bryan Touchstone
“It’s wonderful that people own this property and feel like it’s their own.” – Bryan Touchstone
“We want to create scenarios where we’re delighting you with something unexpectedly pleasant.” – Bryan Touchstone
“The city of Santa Clarita is very lucky to have such forward-thinking leadership.” – Bryan Touchstone
Resources Mentioned:
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome back to the Voices ofBusiness, a Santa Clarita Valley
Chamber of Commerce podcast.
It's good to be with you.
I'm your host, Joshua Maddux.
And Corey Nathan, as usual is off.
Doing something else.
The voices of business iswhere we talk about business.
In the Santa Clarita Valley.
We talk with business ownersand leaders, uh, mainly from
(00:28):
from the Santa Clarita Valley.
Sometimes we don't just stick to business.
We'll talk about leadership, managementlife and really wherever the conversation
takes us, please remember to subscribe.
If you haven't already, tell afriend, leave us a rating and review.
That really helps get the word out.
And really helps us, um, withthe conversations and, you
know, those participate in theconversations like the one we're
(00:49):
having today with Brian Touchstone.
Brian is a seasoned leader withover 35 years of commercial retail
management, uh, experience and hasreally helped shape retail experiences
and he brings his expertise to theheart of Santa Clarita as the general
manager of the Valencia Town Center.
It's good to have you on.
Thank you.
It's good to be here.
(01:09):
And when I years, I just think,oh my gosh, where is it all gone?
Well, it's funny, I was talking tosomeone the other day and I was like,
yeah, I used to go to the, like thechamber expo, uh, when it was in the
dirt lot where, you know, coals andWhole Foods are, and they're like,
that was a dirt lot at one point.
(01:30):
Like, I don't remember that.
It's
yeah.
That didn't exist.
It's
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is, it is.
Um, and we'll talk about change.
We'll talk about where the mall sortof has been, but before we get into
that, I want to get into just sortof knowing you a little bit more.
Um, you've got a fascinating background,sort of growing up in New York, um,
(01:55):
going to, uh, Houston for school.
Uh, you've got a CPA, uh, fromwhat I was seeing and, uh.
Going through some commercial realestate and, and some stuff there.
Tell us, like, walk throughhow, how did all that unfold?
What does that path look like?
(02:16):
Uh, so, uh, well, alright, so a, a quicksnapshot of, uh, just a general bio and,
and, and more focused on career, butyes, I, I was born in Texas, uh, grew
up in Buffalo, New York, in that area.
And you moved back to Texas.
Uh, j I've lived in about.
different states, uh,mostly related to my career.
(02:37):
So early in the early eighties, let's justsay I, I started to manage real estate.
Um, I had originally gone tocollege, uh, in search of a
degree in radio and television.
So I was actually working, uh, asa radio disc jockey in different,
in, in, in that, in that particularmarket, and so because I, I was
working in radio at the time and, uh.
(03:00):
I was hired by a company who wastrying to telemarket real estate.
So they liked my voice and, uh,I did not have the Texas drawl
or anything like that, so theywere like, thumbs up on that.
Uh, so they hired me and then aboutthree months later they said, okay, we
want you to manage an office building.
I'm like, I. Oh, sure.
What is that?
so, so that's how I kind of got intothe, the real estate management business.
(03:25):
Um, and from there I made thejump over to shopping centers.
Uh, that would've beenabout the mid eighties.
And then by the end of theeighties, I was managing, you
know, one plus million square foot.
Enclos re enclosedregional shopping malls.
There was a five year period therewhere I moved every single year.
Um, I, my first mall was out in WestTexas in a town called Big Spring.
(03:47):
Uh, from there, uh, I wasmoved to Huron, South Dakota.
These are, these aregreat markets by the way.
Uh, and, uh, from there I've, I, I wentto, uh, a company called Pyramid in the
Northeast and managed my first like.
square foot plus superregional shopping center.
So, beyond that point,I continued with them.
(04:08):
And, and then, uh, around 1990, I decidedI wanted to go back to college and
finish my degree, but I, I just decided Iwould, you know, just away from radio and
television and go for a business degree.
So I got a BBA in accounting, graduatingsumma cum laude, uh, and then ultimately
went to work for Arthur Anderson.
Um.
(04:28):
For a few years and, uh, did a little bitmore accounting, passed the CPA exam, got
my CPA, and then I. I'm done with this.
I got my CPA, uh, accounting was justnot sufficiently interesting for me, so
I went back into property management and,uh, went to work for Rouse in Milwaukee.
(04:48):
From there I moved to Salt LakeCity with Rouse, uh, managing a,
uh, another super regional mall.
And, and we were, it was anice, it was a great property.
We were like the 900 poundgorilla in the market.
So that was a lot of fun.
it was, it was, it was a nice scenarioto be able to say, um, you know, it, it.
You know, to dictate terms when anybodywanted to come into your shopping center.
(05:08):
So it was nice.
and then, uh, after that Iwent into asset management.
I decided that, hey, if I combine myaccounting, uh, with my management,
I might be able to to, to makethat leap up to asset management.
And I did.
Uh, so from there I moved to WashingtonDC and worked for the Mills Corporation.
Uh, they were subsequentlybought out by Simon.
(05:30):
Uh, and, but at the sametime, I had moved back.
I had moved to Denver to getback closer to the mountains.
Uh, one of my big hobbies is photographyand, uh, I wanted to get back to, uh,
to a, a more photo photography central,you know, centric part of the country.
and so, you know, from there, uh,I, I worked for Denver International
(05:50):
Airport for about five years asthe director of their concessions
program, um, which is, you know.
Which was like really commercial realestate, commercial retail management.
Uh, but this program was phenomenal.
Uh, it was basically the size of a,uh, of a strip center, about 200,000
square feet, but it was doing like $250million in sales out of that small space.
(06:14):
So it was, it was a killer in termsof, uh, its sales per square foot.
and from there I moved back into an assetmanagement role with a local developer.
And then, uh, subsequentlyended up working for Centennial.
Uh, we moved over to, uh, Virginia and Imanaged Dulles Town Center for a while.
And then from there I. Uh, semi-retiredfor about three months, and then
(06:38):
another opportunity for withCentennial came up here in Los Angeles.
Uh, and that brought me,that brought me here.
Um, now the part I skipped,what really was the overall
accounting piece, to be honest.
Uh, so I, 'cause I'd gone from likeauditing and then I worked for a
local Nashville accounting firm andwe had some really great clients
in the country music business.
(06:58):
So it's, it's been a, a veryinteresting career full of lots
of different twists and turns.
Uh, and it's, it's, it's something Ilook back and I think, you know, there's
not a single thing I would do over,uh, if, if I, even if I had a choice.
So, um, so that's kind of, that kind ofbrings us up to modern times as they say.
Yeah,
(07:19):
it's it's always crazy to just like followthat path of, you know, where you've
been and how you got to where you are.
And, you know, across the, you know,different episodes that we've done
to date, like some of the peopleare like, yep, grew up in Santa
Clarita, went to high school here.
Other ones are.
(07:40):
Halfway around the world,um, and all over the place.
So you manage propertiesreally all over the country.
There's a ton of differentcities that you listed off.
What drew you to SantaClarita other than, you know,
employment opportunity?
I.
Well, I.
I mean the Santa Clarita is a greattown and, uh, part of my consideration
(08:03):
for coming here was the fact that,you know, the just basically won
the circumstances of the property.
Um, I. the fact that, you know,there really isn't, uh, a lot of
competition in, in, in a 14 mile radius.
Um, that was, that was important.
'cause I really felt like thatwas, that, uh, really spoke to
the potential of the property too.
The market has a greatgrowth rate attached to it.
(08:26):
it's, uh, one of the, I think oneof the fastest growing, uh, of the
smaller, you know, areas of Los Angeles.
And it's not really, it's like, Ithink it's like the third largest
incorporated city in Los Angeles,something county, something like that.
So, uh, there was the growth rate.
There was the, the fact that we, thatthere was not a lot of competition.
There was the fact, veryimportant that, you know, I could
(08:46):
actually live near where I work.
I. Uh, and, you know, not have todeal with the Los Angeles traffic.
Uh, I was astonished to learnthat the average commute in Santa
Clarita is like 66 minutes each way.
And I was like, man, I, that's,that's a kind of a patient kind
of patience I don't think I have.
And so I live
Yeah.
away from the mall and it, I think it,
(09:09):
by any city standards.
And the city itself is tremendous.
I mean, it, the, the, there's so manyoutdoor recreational opportunities.
Uh, the weather is good.
The people are just so nice andthey're so supportive of the property.
Uh, everyone from the city leveldown to the community level.
Uh, it, it's, it's astonishing to mehow, how often expressed that people
(09:34):
really love this shopping center.
So it's, it's, you know, when I lookedat all of that, I was like, man,
you just can't go wrong with this.
And so, um, so there you have it.
That's, that was
Yeah,
that I did.
And, uh, you know, folks atCentennial didn't have to
really sell me on it at all.
I,
yeah, yeah.
You didn't wanna live in SantaClarita and manage something
in, you know, city or something.
(09:58):
no,
I've done, I've done Santa Claritato LAX in like 30 minutes at
four o'clock in the morning.
Like, you can do it, it just,you just gotta find the right,
you know, hours, I guess.
caffeine away you go.
(10:19):
Yeah.
So.
Obviously, you know, looking at ValenciaTown Center, um, you know, let wanna
talk about the mall and, and sort ofwhat the history of that has looked like.
You know, the mall's beenthere for over 30 years.
What do you think makes itreally like a central element
to the Santa Clarita community?
(10:43):
there's a lot of different things.
I think one, um, you know, shopping isa very social experience and you know,
people, I. Some people come out herejust to, people watch and that's great.
Um, people like to meettheir friends out here.
That gives them a great place to do that.
And, you know, look, when it hits 110degrees outside, it's nice to walk
around in the air conditioning andexperience that with your friends.
(11:05):
So, definitely a social aspect to it.
I mean, we've also, um.
also got a really appealing tenant mix.
Uh, we've got a greatselection of restaurants.
Um, and so I think that those,those kind of things are, are very
appealing to the local market.
Uh, I think that also, uh, people take agreat deal of ownership in the property.
Um, you know, we get, think Imentioned before, we get a lot
(11:28):
of feedback from people and, youknow, most of it's positive e
even when I'm walking in the mall.
So I love to share this story because it,it's, it was so unique to this property.
was, uh, we were doing a mall walkand I was pointing out some things
and some, and someone came up tous during this mall walk and said,
are you with the mall management?
And we said, yes, we are.
And, and, and they, and shesaid, you know, you guys have
(11:51):
been doing here is tremendous.
We're so excited about this propertyand, and where it's going to go, and you
just wanna wish you the best of luck.
mean, you could have knocked me over witha feather because I can count exactly zero
other properties where that's happenedin all of the properties I've managed.
So.
it's wonderful that peopleown this property and they
feel like it's their own.
And we, you know, in the courseof what we're gonna be doing
(12:14):
with the property, we want to
foster that.
We, we,
Yeah,
a part of this community and wewill be a part of the community.
And we wanna, we want to makesure that we maximize that.
yeah.
I'll say for me personally,like going back.
Five, 10 years looking at, um,just the history of the mall.
(12:37):
And, and it felt five years ago,it felt a little bit more corporate
and felt, you know, developed in thesense of, for lack of a better term,
like cookie cutter, like, you know.
This is what we're doingat 45 other properties.
(12:57):
So we're doing the same thing here.
Um, and you know, it, it doesn'thave that feeling anymore.
It's a lot more unique.
And Santa Clarita, for lack of a betterexplanation, like it doesn't have
that cookie cutter copy and paste.
Um.
(13:17):
Which is good that like,
it it makes it unique and, and stuff.
So for, so for people who haven'tvisited the mall recently, um, for
whatever reason, like how would youguys describe like the experience
of Valencia Town Center today?
Um, and, you know, I sort of justtouched on that a little bit.
It.
(13:38):
different people.
Um, we've got a, you know.
We've got a great customer base.
You know, you can come here to see amovie and go to a restaurant over on,
you know, that side of the property.
You can do, you know, shop forall of your needs fashion wise,
fashion wise inside the property.
So really it's, it, it suitsa lot of different purposes
for a lot of different people.
(13:59):
It's also a place, youknow, we have events here.
We try to make thoseevents as you know, as.
As, you know, meaningful as we can to,to the local, to the local population.
We, we do a lot of, you know, cooperativeevents with charitable organizations
also, you know, we work with someother, like, you know, what's up SCV on
(14:20):
some of their promotional activities.
So we try to mix a lot of differentthings in and we try to get something, an
offering out to the public every month.
Some months we have like multiplethings going on, uh, like.
You know, we'll have coming up in June.
So, we, you know, we've got, um,you know, it'll be too late for this
broadcast, but, you know, we have abig event coming up for Mother's Day.
(14:41):
But following that, we've got the, uh,what we call Beats and Eats, which is,
uh, kind of, it's like a vendor fair.
Uh, we'll be doing thaton town Center drive.
Uh, so we'll be closing thestreet off so people can
And shop the vendors thatwe're gonna have out there.
It's a lot of fun and people really enjoyit when we've done similar things in
the past, you know, on even like a, evenon a slow night during the week, we've,
(15:05):
it's drawn like two and 3000 people.
So it, it's really, it'sreally very successful.
And so we try to do things likethat in addition to what we offer,
like, you know, tenant mix wise.
To really maintain people'sinterest in the property.
Uh, we just recently opened SliceHouse, uh, which is, um, I'm gonna
pronounce his name wrong, but it'sa, a restaurant by Tony Jimani,
(15:28):
who is an award-winning pizza chef.
Uh, and you know, for those of youwho haven't tried it yet, I highly
recommended pizza is 90% of my diet.
Uh, so, uh, you know, anytime I cango get pizza, I'm gonna be there.
And I gotta tell you, it's really good.
So, um, so those are the kind ofthings that people can experience here.
We, we really want to try and makeit something where, you know, you
(15:50):
know, you come to the mall, you havecertain expectations, but we also
want to create, you know, scenarioswhere we're delighting you with maybe
something unexpected that, you know,that was unexpectedly pleasant for you.
Yeah.
So looking back at like some of thehistory, and I know some of this,
you know, maybe before you werethere, um, you know, what are, what
(16:11):
are some of the biggest changes thatValencia Town Center has sort of
seen over the past x number of years?
I know with like expansions, likethe patios or, you know, when they
moved the movie theater ages ago, or,you know, those types of elements,
like are there anything in the.
You know, past history that are, arebig changes or even, you know, more,
(16:33):
more recent stuff that's, um, youknow, development, stuff like that.
you know, when I first got here, um.
I, I, I met a, a gentleman named, uh,jim backer, I believe is his name.
One of the original peoplewho, uh, was of the mall.
So in talking to him, I foundthat he kept loads of materials
(16:54):
that kind of taught, you know, wasabout the malls formative years.
And so he very kindly loaned those to me.
Uh, and then, uh, a year later, he,he came up to me at a, at a board
meeting and he says, oh, that stuff Iloaned you, uh, can I get that back?
And I'm like, my gosh.
Where did I put it?
Uh, I, now, didn't tell him this,but I was like, oh boy, better
(17:18):
go back and find that stuff.
Luckily it was, I, it was rightwhere I thought it would be,
but I was like, oh my gosh.
But it was, it's amazing to me, um,that it, you know, that it really
started as pa part of the new hall,uh, land development and, uh, which
was, you know, a critical piece ofthe development of, uh, Santa Clarita.
Um, and that they had the visionto put this, this property here.
(17:41):
Uh, it started off as just, you know,really the main mall and then it, then
the other pieces kind of developedafter that, uh, the theater was put in.
And then we had the, like, what I callthe BJ's parcel, where BJ's brewhouse is.
So all that kind of came later.
Um.
was a big carousel at the entrancewhere, uh, the, yeah, the what that I
(18:03):
guess where Sicily's that, uh, that'sone restaurant everybody says, you
know, that I keep hearing a lot ofgood things about, it was right there.
And so, you know, that went away wheneverthe mall was kind of reconfigured, they
put in a food court then around 2010the patios was put in, uh, which was
sort of like the lifestyle component,uh, where we brought in like apple
(18:25):
store anthropology and those types of.
me, tenants.
And, uh, you know, that is kindof been the way the mall has laid
out, you know, since, since then.
And so, you know, one of the things we'relooking at as we, as we move forward with
the redevelopment of the property, um,is that, you know, we want to basically
position the property, uh, for the nextgeneration of Santa Clarita so that we
(18:47):
can, you know, continue to offer thegoods and services that people want
to see in their, in their hometown.
It's grown with the market and it willcontinue to change with the market,
Yeah, I know there's been, it'sfunny you were talking about the, the
carousel that used to be out front.
I remember growing up, um, they usedto shut down Town Center Drive, um,
(19:07):
back before like the movie theaterwas out there, the movie theater
was where the food court is today.
Um, and they would do concerts.
Concerts in the park style,but like downtown center drive.
And you'd get, you know, they'dclose it down and you'd get a few
thousand people that'd show up andsit out in their lawn chairs and stuff
(19:29):
right there in front of the mall.
Um, and yeah, I not sure one of thosetypes of events with the size of like, you
know, concerts in the park would work ondownstairs, like concerts in the park's.
A great venue for that now.
Um, and that's partly justdue to the fact that like.
The community has grown in,in size so much, um, you know,
(19:52):
over the years and so, you know,continuing to find venues for that.
But you guys have a ton of other stuff.
I mean, that you guys host from, you know,4th of July is a huge event at the mall.
I know.
Um, we've got the chamber, the Chamberhas the chamber expo coming up.
Um, that is now this year gonna behosted at the mall, which I think is.
(20:13):
Such a cool way to sort ofcollaborate and, and do that this
year, which is really good, so,
uh, some, a little bitof jazz programming.
Um, olive Branch
okay.
is, uh, going to be hosting jazz eventsin their space over, um, on the, uh.
The, um, I wanna call it theformer Sears wing of the patios.
(20:38):
They've also, they also in thepast have done their own theatrical
There, There, is gonna be a summer seriesof those, uh, plays that they'll be doing.
So, have, uh, you know, taken somereally creative steps to kind of
program that part of the patios.
Uh, and so we've got.
Those things going on.
We we're gonna have, uh, a month long,uh, art exhibit going into, uh, one of
(21:01):
the spaces on that end of the patios.
Uh, you're right, we do have 4th of Julycoming up when we're going to have a VIP
uh, event, uh, going on the third floor ofthe parking of the Macy's parking garage.
Uh, so people there, uh, can enjoy,you know, food, entertainment and
also probably the, the best view ofthe firework show that you can find.
(21:21):
so, you know, we've gotthings like that going on.
Um, I. So, you know, like I say, we tryto, we try to keep things programmed
so that, you know, people come tothe mall, they might find something
unexpected that's, that's really, thatthey really will find interesting.
Well I think
a lot of what you're talking about withthings such as, you know, different
events and you know, the 4th of Julystuff, the Chamber Expo, a lot of
(21:45):
the other events that you're talkingabout are very much, how do we partner
with the community for events not.
We're putting on an event thatthe community needs to support.
Um, and so how does your guys' teamapproach that sort of community building
aspect through the events and partnership?
(22:06):
Is there, you know, what'sthe strategy behind that?
What are you guys looking for?
If someone's in the communityand is looking to host an
event or, um, further on that?
so in the past, I mean, some of thethings we've done, and I'll, we'll
just use July 4th as an example.
Uh, like last year we partneredwith, uh, the Wish Foundation.
(22:29):
To put on a VIP event, uh, as on thethird floor of the Macy's parking garage.
Uh, this was something that we justthought of as an idea at a staff meeting
and, uh, 'cause we were doing somebrainstorming, Hey, what can we do?
We got this really cool July4th thing going on here.
What can we do to kind of makeit a little extra special?
What can we do to, to, to bringit maybe a little bit to that next
(22:49):
level, elevate it a little bit.
And so, uh, we came up withthis idea and it's like, okay.
Let's find a, let's find apartner out in the community who
wants to work with us on this.
So, uh, you know, the WishFoundation jumped on it.
And, uh, so we worked out a plan,and by we, I mean, uh, Monique,
the marketing manager, uh,spearheaded this, uh, and you know.
(23:11):
were very helpful.
They promoted it through, uh,their own like email database.
We worked with them on, you know,programming the event, uh, and,
and getting people to, to come out.
And we sold about 250 tickets tothe event and were able to use,
uh, some of the funds to make acontribution to the Wish Foundation.
And so everybody washappy with the result.
(23:34):
Uh, and it was a reallygood community event.
And the people there, we got.
So much positive feedback from that.
And it was a lot of fun.
Uh, it was, it, I have to say the,the marketing manager here knows
how to throw a good party and, uh,
so,
It's always a good thing.
yeah.
So people, people had a
Awesome.
Awesome.
(23:54):
that's actually, I mean, just back to
that's kind of how some things canevolve and, and you know, we're
open to other ideas coming infrom the community as well, so.
Reach out to Monique, uh, here at themall office and, you know, and just
kind of pitch the idea we're, we'dbe happy to talk to you about it.
So,
Yeah.
Well, and, and that a hundred percentis shown through the exact events that
(24:18):
we just talked about through the chamberExpo, through all of that type of
stuff that you guys are already doing.
Um, it's definitely not justa, you know, talk, you guys
are definitely, it's definitelythere and shown clearly, so, so.
(24:38):
There's obviously been a lot of talk andbuzz, um, and a lot of people are curious
about what the next, you know, fiveyears, 10 years looks like for the mall.
Obviously we've already talked about,you know, the past and the mall's gonna
continue to partner with the communityand a lot of that type of stuff.
Is there anything, youknow, I know everything.
(25:02):
Is in the planning stage,and until construction's
complete, nothing is finalized.
But is there anythinglike, just, you know,
I've interviewed attorneys,we've, we've done, you know, yeah.
Um, yeah.
But like, you know, what, whatdoes that direction look like?
(25:23):
Obviously, you know, high level.
one of the things that, you know.
I think we have to acknowledge is that,you know, the, the prior ownership of
the mall, uh, and then we're talkingjust a, a couple of years pre Covid had
made some very significant announcementsabout, you know, their, their plans
and intentions to, sort of, you know,redevelop the shopping center and, you
(25:46):
some new, um, new retailing.
so, you know, they made thoseannouncements, then covid happened.
Time goes on.
Uh, so, you know, I think there's a littlebit of, uh, you know, maybe fatigue and or
impatience to see something happen, right?
Be because in, uh, in everybody'sminds, they've been hearing about it
(26:07):
for a long
time.
Uh.
Well, and there's, there'sexpectations I think as well of.
I'm expecting to see the exactplan that was talked about
in 2019, um, type situation.
And in reality, I think one of the otherthings that we do need to at least,
(26:28):
you know, address slightly is shoppingpatterns have changed in five years.
How people go to the mall, what theygo to the mall for, like, you know,
it, it, that's changed a little bit.
Um, so needs to adapt.
Absolutely.
Uh, and, and know, way we'll approachit is really just to, to reposition
(26:50):
the center and, and make it appeal tothe next generation of Santa Clarita
because those shopping patterns change.
Um, and because, you know, we have acenter that, you know, I. it or not, is
resistant to change because, you know,we have a lot of agreements in place, and
so to change things, we have to go backto the parties of those agreements and
(27:12):
get their consent to changes and so on.
So, uh, it's a, it actually isnot as simple as, you know, doing
a plan, uh, bidding it out andgetting shovels in the dirt.
It's, It's, just
Yeah,
Uh,
you mean, you mean, you know,zoning and permitting takes time.
What?
(27:32):
So we wish it could go faster.
Uh, but, you know,
Yeah.
the, you know, maybe that's goodbecause maybe we plan better.
Right.
And so we don't do anything hasty.
Uh, and it, so what we end up withthough, as I is, you know, the.
Is something that's going to serve thecommunity and something that's going to
be something that Valencia is proud of.
I can't go into specifics as to what'sbeing talked about now, and it might
(27:55):
not even be fruitful to do so becausethose plans could change in a week.
Uh, I've, I've, there's a developmentteam working on this and, you know, they
come up with new ideas all the time.
Let's see how this works.
Uh, and there are some, some thingsthat are, you know, that are in the
works that I would love to talk about.
But, you know, I'd be, I'dbe hung if I did so, uh.
(28:16):
Well future episode.
future
you know, stay tuned.
Uh, us, give us a momentto do what we need to do.
I think everybody's gonna bevery happy with the result.
yeah.
So, you know, that's about all I cansay about the redevelopment right now.
Uh, now I will, I do want to, I dowant to actually make a little bit
(28:38):
of a call out to the city because.
You know, I think one of the, one ofthe things that people that's kind of
kept this at the forefront of people'sminds you know, the city is working on
something called the Town Center Plan.
And this was, this was probably, you know,a, a huge topic of conversation last year.
And that's gonna be an enormous benefitto us in our efforts to, to redevelop
(29:01):
the property because it actually, youknow, as long as we kind of stay within
the framework of the Town Center plan,uh, which, you know, is very, very.
and flexible.
Uh, it saves us a lot of, uh, ofthe, uh, you know, review processes
that are inherent in a redevelopment.
So, uh, very forward thinking of the city.
And, you know, Clarita is verylucky to have such forward
(29:24):
thinking, um, city leaders.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that type of stuff is really, Ithink what keeps some of the development
in Santa Clarita moving forwardat the rate that it does, because.
They go in and they say, you know, there'sthis piece of property and we would love
to see A, B, or C here, and we'd loveto see this direction of development.
(29:47):
And if you come in and you are doingsomething with inside of that roughed out
concept, and it's, it is, you know, it'sa generalized direction that the city
has of what they're looking for there.
And if you come in and say, Hey, Iwanna fulfill that, it cuts through
a little bit of the red tape.
Um.
You know, and also the city has donesome, you know, pre-planning and they've
(30:12):
done some, you know, there, there'sa reason why the city is thinking
that that might make sense there.
Um, and you know, I lookacross Santa Clarita.
I look at other, you know,development projects that have
gone on over the years and.
You know, I'm on the Canyon countryside of things and Vista Canyon has been
a different mix of what initially wasgonna be there versus what's there today.
(30:36):
And you know, that project haschanged and transitioned over time.
Um, you know, and it's half built out.
Um, and so, you know, like yousaid, until the shovels are in
the, even when the shovels are inthe ground, it still might change.
Yeah.
You start to build the shovelof a building and you're
like, this is gonna be.
(30:58):
Office space and it's like, well, no onewants to work in an office space anymore.
Cool.
Now it's apartments.
Um, and you know, yeah.
So cool.
what to see them all,
I've seen different stuff that, youknow, some of the different local news
stations have published, and I thinkhaving that sort of mixed use, having.
(31:21):
Uh, I know I go out to like Topanga and,you know, Glendale Galleria and some of
those different like open space outdoorareas, that's a little bit more of a,
you know, the patios is a nice area.
Um, but having those sort ofmore like iconic Americana like.
(31:44):
Outdoor grass park area that can beutilized for that type of an event space
or you know, you go and you hang out.
Um, and some of those are,you know, they're, there's two
mindsets I think in a mall space.
There's the mall of I have to go thereto go grab three things or we're going
(32:04):
there to hang out for the afternoon.
Um, and I think a lot of the.
Redevelopment of different malls has beenlooking at how do we become a destination
le and less of a strip mall essentially.
Um, and so I think, I think the historyof the direction, you know, with things,
(32:29):
like I said, like with the patiosand with some of that development
already, um, you know, has allowed for,for some of that general direction.
Um.
So, yeah, I'm interested to see,you know, fast forward five years
where we at type situation, but youknow, so Well, I know, I know there's
(32:51):
a tragedy over there right now.
I heard Chick-fil-A is temporarily closed.
Well, they're doing a kitchenremodel, so, you know, but I have
heard that the, uh, the one-off,uh, over by Magic Mountain is open.
So, or opening, so we're not without.
chicken needs should we don't
So, yeah,
(33:12):
So, but you know, also got, uh,Popeye's here in, uh, in food court.
If, if anybody needs thatchicken fixed right away, so.
there you go.
Uh, that's good.
That's good.
Awesome.
Well, is there anything else that,you know, people need to know
(33:33):
about what's happening at the mall?
Obviously we will have, um.
You know, the social media website,all that type of stuff in the
show notes and in the YouTubedescription and all of that.
So we'll have all that stuff, um, wherepeople can find out, you know, upcoming
events, you know, for months to come.
(33:53):
Um, but is there anything else thatyou guys wanna talk about or touch
on, or, or people should know about?
we're, working with the LEAP Museumto, uh, we, we had worked with them
last year to, uh, to take a spaceand, and make it sort of like, um, a
popup for, you know, for kids to come.
And it was themed around, you know,career objectives and so was so popular.
(34:16):
It was unreal.
Uh.
And so we had people coming inand they, they liked it so much.
They were only gonna beopen for a short time.
They extended.
And so they wanna do somethingsimilar again this year.
So we're gonna have the LEAP museum back,
so June for the LEAP Museum anduh, yeah, we have, yeah, the
usual back to school coming up.
Uh, we, last year we did a pumpkinpatch, which brought in about 25,000
(34:41):
people over a two week period.
and we did that in conjunctionwith a spirit Halloween.
So there was a nice sort ofsynergy between the two uses.
Uh, we.
We did those over on the, the, uh, theformer Sears into the mall, and that
brought a lot of activity in the area.
We'd love to have them back.
Uh, but we will definitelyhave a pumpkin patch again.
Uh, so, you know, we, we have a, a lot ofdifferent events coming up at the mall.
(35:06):
Uh, I'm glad we'll have we attachingour information to the podcast because
it's people can, people can keep upwith things and we have things come up
at the last minute too that we put in.
So,
Yeah.
And I, I like some of the aspectsthat you're talking about, like the,
the, you know, the types of eventsyou guys are doing are, again, it
just goes back to what we've beentalking about, like they're community
(35:27):
centered, like the pumpkin patch.
You know, you've got a corporatestore, you've got Spirit Halloween
coming in, but then how do wedo something that is, you know.
Community element.
Like you bring in the classicpumpkin patch you bring in,
you know, those elements.
Um, it's cool.
It's cool.
So yeah, I will say Santa Clarita,you know, as a whole, needs a
(35:51):
permanent children's museum.
I don't know if that ends up at themall or elsewhere, but you know, I
know there's been, I know there's beentalks, there's been a city survey and
there's been other stuff going around.
So, um, the good thing is.
There's conversations happening.
So that's always the start of it, so.
Awesome.
Well, it's been an awesome conversation.
(36:12):
Uh, before we close out, uh, doyou have any questions for me?
Get to flip the script a little bit there.
well, I've already asked you the big oneabout what you'd like to see at the mall.
Um, so how did you getinvolved in, in doing
podcasts?
I'm
Yeah.
So yeah, so I own a marketing agencyand so we're full service, digital
(36:32):
marketing agency, and I actually starteddoing podcasting during Covid because
my big 2020, you know, um, goal was tojoin the chamber and do more in-person
events and then we know how that went.
Quickly south.
Um, and so I, my team at the timewas entirely remote and I had an
(37:03):
office in my garage and so I didn'tsee the light of day or many humans.
And so I was like, I wanna be ableto have conversations with different
people and I can't go to Starbucksand hang out and talk to people.
'cause that's.
Just not something you can do right now.
And so I started a podcast justtalking to other business owners
and talking about, you know.
(37:23):
What they're doing and thestruggles that they've faced.
And, and then life happenedand got busy and I, you know,
did a bunch of episodes there.
And Corey, uh, my co-host,he and I were chatting.
He actually is in podcast production,like this is what he does.
He ha he hosts a handful of showsand produces and does all that.
And so he and I were talking and, um.
(37:47):
Uh, we both sort of had thesame like, man, I like we
need a Santa Clarita podcast.
Like we need something that talks tobusiness owners here in Santa Clarita.
And at that point we were trying tofigure out like, okay, do we just,
you know, hit a bunch of randombusinesses and just do it that way?
Like, can we partner with somebody?
(38:07):
And we approached the chamber on it andsaid, Hey, this is what we'd love to do.
And um, the chamber said.
We've been thinking aboutsomething and we circled back
and said, okay, here's the plan.
Like here's some guestswe wanna record with.
And the chamber was like,oh, you are serious.
And it was very much that element of,you know, you have people who come in
(38:28):
and are like, you guys should do this.
And you're like.
Cool.
I'm not putting that together.
I don't have time to do that.
But then someone else comes in and says,okay, I wanna host this event at the mall.
This is what I want to do.
These are the vendors I have.
This is what I want to do.
I've got all my stuff set up.
And you're like,
okay.
Let's figure out a date.
Let's find what works.
(38:48):
Like those are two very different.
Events.
Um, and that's, so that'ssort of how it went.
So we approached the chamberon it and it's been great.
It's been awesome conversations.
Um, and, uh, it's just good to, youknow, no, dig into some of Santa
CITAs history and some of the big,you know, big businesses, small
(39:08):
businesses, all different stuffout here and, and really just, um,
you know, get to knoweverybody a little bit better.
So.
I
of Covid and kind of turnedit into something more social.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
What,
it's been good.
have you that's sort that youkind of never, never thought you
(39:29):
would, and that maybe was a littlebit of a paradigm shift for you?
what I quickly found was this is.
A medium that does a few things.
It one allows us to have areally good conversation to
get to know each other better.
It produces content that allows thecommunity to get to know both of us.
(39:51):
Um, and it's, it's really justa, a different medium and I
enjoy having these conversations.
Enjoy, you know, um, you know, gettingto know people and, and, you know,
yeah, we chatted for five minutesat a chamber event, you know, but I.
There's so much more that you can actuallysit down and have a conversation about
(40:15):
and sort of let others sort of sitthere and, and listen to it as well.
So it's fun.
on, on your podcast andum, thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
Awesome.
Yeah, it was great having you.
As always.
Please follow, rate and reviewus wherever you get your podcast.
(40:36):
You can follow the voicesof business on social media.
Uh, you can find me Joshua Madduxon LinkedIn and other socials.
You can follow Cory at Cory sNathan and the malls contact
info and social media and.
Website.
We'll all be in the show notes as well.
We'd love to have you orother local business leaders
(40:57):
join in on the conversation.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see younext time on the Voices of Business.
Welcome back to the Voices ofBusiness, a Santa Clarita Valley
Chamber of Commerce podcast.
It's good to be with you.
I'm your host, Joshua Maddux.
And Corey Nathan, as usual is off.
Doing something else.
The voices of business iswhere we talk about business.
In the Santa Clarita Valley.
We talk with business ownersand leaders, uh, mainly from
(00:28):
from the Santa Clarita Valley.
Sometimes we don't just stick to business.
We'll talk about leadership, managementlife and really wherever the conversation
takes us, please remember to subscribe.
If you haven't already, tell afriend, leave us a rating and review.
That really helps get the word out.
And really helps us, um, withthe conversations and, you
know, those participate in theconversations like the one we're
(00:49):
having today with Brian Touchstone.
Brian is a seasoned leader withover 35 years of commercial retail
management, uh, experience and hasreally helped shape retail experiences
and he brings his expertise to theheart of Santa Clarita as the general
manager of the Valencia Town Center.
It's good to have you on.
Thank you.
It's good to be here.
(01:09):
And when I years, I just think,oh my gosh, where is it all gone?
Well, it's funny, I was talking tosomeone the other day and I was like,
yeah, I used to go to the, like thechamber expo, uh, when it was in the
dirt lot where, you know, coals andWhole Foods are, and they're like,
that was a dirt lot at one point.
(01:30):
Like, I don't remember that.
It's
yeah.
That didn't exist.
It's
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is, it is.
Um, and we'll talk about change.
We'll talk about where the mall sortof has been, but before we get into
that, I want to get into just sortof knowing you a little bit more.
Um, you've got a fascinating background,sort of growing up in New York, um,
(01:55):
going to, uh, Houston for school.
Uh, you've got a CPA, uh, fromwhat I was seeing and, uh.
Going through some commercial realestate and, and some stuff there.
Tell us, like, walk throughhow, how did all that unfold?
What does that path look like?
(02:16):
Uh, so, uh, well, alright, so a, a quicksnapshot of, uh, just a general bio and,
and, and more focused on career, butyes, I, I was born in Texas, uh, grew
up in Buffalo, New York, in that area.
And you moved back to Texas.
Uh, j I've lived in about.
different states, uh,mostly related to my career.
(02:37):
So early in the early eighties, let's justsay I, I started to manage real estate.
Um, I had originally gone tocollege, uh, in search of a
degree in radio and television.
So I was actually working, uh, asa radio disc jockey in different,
in, in, in that, in that particularmarket, and so because I, I was
working in radio at the time and, uh.
(03:00):
I was hired by a company who wastrying to telemarket real estate.
So they liked my voice and, uh,I did not have the Texas drawl
or anything like that, so theywere like, thumbs up on that.
Uh, so they hired me and then aboutthree months later they said, okay, we
want you to manage an office building.
I'm like, I. Oh, sure.
What is that?
so, so that's how I kind of got intothe, the real estate management business.
(03:25):
Um, and from there I made thejump over to shopping centers.
Uh, that would've beenabout the mid eighties.
And then by the end of theeighties, I was managing, you
know, one plus million square foot.
Enclos re enclosedregional shopping malls.
There was a five year period therewhere I moved every single year.
Um, I, my first mall was out in WestTexas in a town called Big Spring.
(03:47):
Uh, from there, uh, I wasmoved to Huron, South Dakota.
These are, these aregreat markets by the way.
Uh, and, uh, from there I've, I, I wentto, uh, a company called Pyramid in the
Northeast and managed my first like.
square foot plus superregional shopping center.
So, beyond that point,I continued with them.
(04:08):
And, and then, uh, around 1990, I decidedI wanted to go back to college and
finish my degree, but I, I just decided Iwould, you know, just away from radio and
television and go for a business degree.
So I got a BBA in accounting, graduatingsumma cum laude, uh, and then ultimately
went to work for Arthur Anderson.
Um.
(04:28):
For a few years and, uh, did a little bitmore accounting, passed the CPA exam, got
my CPA, and then I. I'm done with this.
I got my CPA, uh, accounting was justnot sufficiently interesting for me, so
I went back into property management and,uh, went to work for Rouse in Milwaukee.
(04:48):
From there I moved to Salt LakeCity with Rouse, uh, managing a,
uh, another super regional mall.
And, and we were, it was anice, it was a great property.
We were like the 900 poundgorilla in the market.
So that was a lot of fun.
it was, it was, it was a nice scenarioto be able to say, um, you know, it, it.
You know, to dictate terms when anybodywanted to come into your shopping center.
(05:08):
So it was nice.
and then, uh, after that Iwent into asset management.
I decided that, hey, if I combine myaccounting, uh, with my management,
I might be able to to, to makethat leap up to asset management.
And I did.
Uh, so from there I moved to WashingtonDC and worked for the Mills Corporation.
Uh, they were subsequentlybought out by Simon.
(05:30):
Uh, and, but at the sametime, I had moved back.
I had moved to Denver to getback closer to the mountains.
Uh, one of my big hobbies is photographyand, uh, I wanted to get back to, uh,
to a, a more photo photography central,you know, centric part of the country.
and so, you know, from there, uh,I, I worked for Denver International
(05:50):
Airport for about five years asthe director of their concessions
program, um, which is, you know.
Which was like really commercial realestate, commercial retail management.
Uh, but this program was phenomenal.
Uh, it was basically the size of a,uh, of a strip center, about 200,000
square feet, but it was doing like $250million in sales out of that small space.
(06:14):
So it was, it was a killer in termsof, uh, its sales per square foot.
and from there I moved back into an assetmanagement role with a local developer.
And then, uh, subsequentlyended up working for Centennial.
Uh, we moved over to, uh, Virginia and Imanaged Dulles Town Center for a while.
And then from there I. Uh, semi-retiredfor about three months, and then
(06:38):
another opportunity for withCentennial came up here in Los Angeles.
Uh, and that brought me,that brought me here.
Um, now the part I skipped,what really was the overall
accounting piece, to be honest.
Uh, so I, 'cause I'd gone from likeauditing and then I worked for a
local Nashville accounting firm andwe had some really great clients
in the country music business.
(06:58):
So it's, it's been a, a veryinteresting career full of lots
of different twists and turns.
Uh, and it's, it's, it's something Ilook back and I think, you know, there's
not a single thing I would do over,uh, if, if I, even if I had a choice.
So, um, so that's kind of, that kind ofbrings us up to modern times as they say.
Yeah,
(07:19):
it's it's always crazy to just like followthat path of, you know, where you've
been and how you got to where you are.
And, you know, across the, you know,different episodes that we've done
to date, like some of the peopleare like, yep, grew up in Santa
Clarita, went to high school here.
Other ones are.
(07:40):
Halfway around the world,um, and all over the place.
So you manage propertiesreally all over the country.
There's a ton of differentcities that you listed off.
What drew you to SantaClarita other than, you know,
employment opportunity?
I.
Well, I.
I mean the Santa Clarita is a greattown and, uh, part of my consideration
(08:03):
for coming here was the fact that,you know, the just basically won
the circumstances of the property.
Um, I. the fact that, you know,there really isn't, uh, a lot of
competition in, in, in a 14 mile radius.
Um, that was, that was important.
'cause I really felt like thatwas, that, uh, really spoke to
the potential of the property too.
The market has a greatgrowth rate attached to it.
(08:26):
it's, uh, one of the, I think oneof the fastest growing, uh, of the
smaller, you know, areas of Los Angeles.
And it's not really, it's like, Ithink it's like the third largest
incorporated city in Los Angeles,something county, something like that.
So, uh, there was the growth rate.
There was the, the fact that we, thatthere was not a lot of competition.
There was the fact, veryimportant that, you know, I could
(08:46):
actually live near where I work.
I. Uh, and, you know, not have todeal with the Los Angeles traffic.
Uh, I was astonished to learnthat the average commute in Santa
Clarita is like 66 minutes each way.
And I was like, man, I, that's,that's a kind of a patient kind
of patience I don't think I have.
And so I live
Yeah.
away from the mall and it, I think it,
(09:09):
by any city standards.
And the city itself is tremendous.
I mean, it, the, the, there's so manyoutdoor recreational opportunities.
Uh, the weather is good.
The people are just so nice andthey're so supportive of the property.
Uh, everyone from the city leveldown to the community level.
Uh, it, it's, it's astonishing to mehow, how often expressed that people
(09:34):
really love this shopping center.
So it's, it's, you know, when I lookedat all of that, I was like, man,
you just can't go wrong with this.
And so, um, so there you have it.
That's, that was
Yeah,
that I did.
And, uh, you know, folks atCentennial didn't have to
really sell me on it at all.
I,
yeah, yeah.
You didn't wanna live in SantaClarita and manage something
in, you know, city or something.
(09:58):
no,
I've done, I've done Santa Claritato LAX in like 30 minutes at
four o'clock in the morning.
Like, you can do it, it just,you just gotta find the right,
you know, hours, I guess.
caffeine away you go.
(10:19):
Yeah.
So.
Obviously, you know, looking at ValenciaTown Center, um, you know, let wanna
talk about the mall and, and sort ofwhat the history of that has looked like.
You know, the mall's beenthere for over 30 years.
What do you think makes itreally like a central element
to the Santa Clarita community?
(10:43):
there's a lot of different things.
I think one, um, you know, shopping isa very social experience and you know,
people, I. Some people come out herejust to, people watch and that's great.
Um, people like to meettheir friends out here.
That gives them a great place to do that.
And, you know, look, when it hits 110degrees outside, it's nice to walk
around in the air conditioning andexperience that with your friends.
(11:05):
So, definitely a social aspect to it.
I mean, we've also, um.
also got a really appealing tenant mix.
Uh, we've got a greatselection of restaurants.
Um, and so I think that those,those kind of things are, are very
appealing to the local market.
Uh, I think that also, uh, people take agreat deal of ownership in the property.
Um, you know, we get, think Imentioned before, we get a lot
(11:28):
of feedback from people and, youknow, most of it's positive e
even when I'm walking in the mall.
So I love to share this story because it,it's, it was so unique to this property.
was, uh, we were doing a mall walkand I was pointing out some things
and some, and someone came up tous during this mall walk and said,
are you with the mall management?
And we said, yes, we are.
And, and, and they, and shesaid, you know, you guys have
(11:51):
been doing here is tremendous.
We're so excited about this propertyand, and where it's going to go, and you
just wanna wish you the best of luck.
mean, you could have knocked me over witha feather because I can count exactly zero
other properties where that's happenedin all of the properties I've managed.
So.
it's wonderful that peopleown this property and they
feel like it's their own.
And we, you know, in the courseof what we're gonna be doing
(12:14):
with the property, we want to
foster that.
We, we,
Yeah,
a part of this community and wewill be a part of the community.
And we wanna, we want to makesure that we maximize that.
yeah.
I'll say for me personally,like going back.
Five, 10 years looking at, um,just the history of the mall.
(12:37):
And, and it felt five years ago,it felt a little bit more corporate
and felt, you know, developed in thesense of, for lack of a better term,
like cookie cutter, like, you know.
This is what we're doingat 45 other properties.
(12:57):
So we're doing the same thing here.
Um, and you know, it, it doesn'thave that feeling anymore.
It's a lot more unique.
And Santa Clarita, for lack of a betterexplanation, like it doesn't have
that cookie cutter copy and paste.
Um.
(13:17):
Which is good that like,
it it makes it unique and, and stuff.
So for, so for people who haven'tvisited the mall recently, um, for
whatever reason, like how would youguys describe like the experience
of Valencia Town Center today?
Um, and, you know, I sort of justtouched on that a little bit.
It.
(13:38):
different people.
Um, we've got a, you know.
We've got a great customer base.
You know, you can come here to see amovie and go to a restaurant over on,
you know, that side of the property.
You can do, you know, shop forall of your needs fashion wise,
fashion wise inside the property.
So really it's, it, it suitsa lot of different purposes
for a lot of different people.
(13:59):
It's also a place, youknow, we have events here.
We try to make thoseevents as you know, as.
As, you know, meaningful as we can to,to the local, to the local population.
We, we do a lot of, you know, cooperativeevents with charitable organizations
also, you know, we work with someother, like, you know, what's up SCV on
(14:20):
some of their promotional activities.
So we try to mix a lot of differentthings in and we try to get something, an
offering out to the public every month.
Some months we have like multiplethings going on, uh, like.
You know, we'll have coming up in June.
So, we, you know, we've got, um,you know, it'll be too late for this
broadcast, but, you know, we have abig event coming up for Mother's Day.
(14:41):
But following that, we've got the, uh,what we call Beats and Eats, which is,
uh, kind of, it's like a vendor fair.
Uh, we'll be doing thaton town Center drive.
Uh, so we'll be closing thestreet off so people can
And shop the vendors thatwe're gonna have out there.
It's a lot of fun and people really enjoyit when we've done similar things in
the past, you know, on even like a, evenon a slow night during the week, we've,
(15:05):
it's drawn like two and 3000 people.
So it, it's really, it'sreally very successful.
And so we try to do things likethat in addition to what we offer,
like, you know, tenant mix wise.
To really maintain people'sinterest in the property.
Uh, we just recently opened SliceHouse, uh, which is, um, I'm gonna
pronounce his name wrong, but it'sa, a restaurant by Tony Jimani,
(15:28):
who is an award-winning pizza chef.
Uh, and you know, for those of youwho haven't tried it yet, I highly
recommended pizza is 90% of my diet.
Uh, so, uh, you know, anytime I cango get pizza, I'm gonna be there.
And I gotta tell you, it's really good.
So, um, so those are the kind ofthings that people can experience here.
We, we really want to try and makeit something where, you know, you
(15:50):
know, you come to the mall, you havecertain expectations, but we also
want to create, you know, scenarioswhere we're delighting you with maybe
something unexpected that, you know,that was unexpectedly pleasant for you.
Yeah.
So looking back at like some of thehistory, and I know some of this,
you know, maybe before you werethere, um, you know, what are, what
(16:11):
are some of the biggest changes thatValencia Town Center has sort of
seen over the past x number of years?
I know with like expansions, likethe patios or, you know, when they
moved the movie theater ages ago, or,you know, those types of elements,
like are there anything in the.
You know, past history that are, arebig changes or even, you know, more,
(16:33):
more recent stuff that's, um, youknow, development, stuff like that.
you know, when I first got here, um.
I, I, I met a, a gentleman named, uh,jim backer, I believe is his name.
One of the original peoplewho, uh, was of the mall.
So in talking to him, I foundthat he kept loads of materials
(16:54):
that kind of taught, you know, wasabout the malls formative years.
And so he very kindly loaned those to me.
Uh, and then, uh, a year later, he,he came up to me at a, at a board
meeting and he says, oh, that stuff Iloaned you, uh, can I get that back?
And I'm like, my gosh.
Where did I put it?
Uh, I, now, didn't tell him this,but I was like, oh boy, better
(17:18):
go back and find that stuff.
Luckily it was, I, it was rightwhere I thought it would be,
but I was like, oh my gosh.
But it was, it's amazing to me, um,that it, you know, that it really
started as pa part of the new hall,uh, land development and, uh, which
was, you know, a critical piece ofthe development of, uh, Santa Clarita.
Um, and that they had the visionto put this, this property here.
(17:41):
Uh, it started off as just, you know,really the main mall and then it, then
the other pieces kind of developedafter that, uh, the theater was put in.
And then we had the, like, what I callthe BJ's parcel, where BJ's brewhouse is.
So all that kind of came later.
Um.
was a big carousel at the entrancewhere, uh, the, yeah, the what that I
(18:03):
guess where Sicily's that, uh, that'sone restaurant everybody says, you
know, that I keep hearing a lot ofgood things about, it was right there.
And so, you know, that went away wheneverthe mall was kind of reconfigured, they
put in a food court then around 2010the patios was put in, uh, which was
sort of like the lifestyle component,uh, where we brought in like apple
(18:25):
store anthropology and those types of.
me, tenants.
And, uh, you know, that is kindof been the way the mall has laid
out, you know, since, since then.
And so, you know, one of the things we'relooking at as we, as we move forward with
the redevelopment of the property, um,is that, you know, we want to basically
position the property, uh, for the nextgeneration of Santa Clarita so that we
(18:47):
can, you know, continue to offer thegoods and services that people want
to see in their, in their hometown.
It's grown with the market and it willcontinue to change with the market,
Yeah, I know there's been, it'sfunny you were talking about the, the
carousel that used to be out front.
I remember growing up, um, they usedto shut down Town Center Drive, um,
(19:07):
back before like the movie theaterwas out there, the movie theater
was where the food court is today.
Um, and they would do concerts.
Concerts in the park style,but like downtown center drive.
And you'd get, you know, they'dclose it down and you'd get a few
thousand people that'd show up andsit out in their lawn chairs and stuff
(19:29):
right there in front of the mall.
Um, and yeah, I not sure one of thosetypes of events with the size of like, you
know, concerts in the park would work ondownstairs, like concerts in the park's.
A great venue for that now.
Um, and that's partly justdue to the fact that like.
The community has grown in,in size so much, um, you know,
(19:52):
over the years and so, you know,continuing to find venues for that.
But you guys have a ton of other stuff.
I mean, that you guys host from, you know,4th of July is a huge event at the mall.
I know.
Um, we've got the chamber, the Chamberhas the chamber expo coming up.
Um, that is now this year gonna behosted at the mall, which I think is.
(20:13):
Such a cool way to sort ofcollaborate and, and do that this
year, which is really good, so,
uh, some, a little bitof jazz programming.
Um, olive Branch
okay.
is, uh, going to be hosting jazz eventsin their space over, um, on the, uh.
The, um, I wanna call it theformer Sears wing of the patios.
(20:38):
They've also, they also in thepast have done their own theatrical
There, There, is gonna be a summer seriesof those, uh, plays that they'll be doing.
So, have, uh, you know, taken somereally creative steps to kind of
program that part of the patios.
Uh, and so we've got.
Those things going on.
We we're gonna have, uh, a month long,uh, art exhibit going into, uh, one of
(21:01):
the spaces on that end of the patios.
Uh, you're right, we do have 4th of Julycoming up when we're going to have a VIP
uh, event, uh, going on the third floor ofthe parking of the Macy's parking garage.
Uh, so people there, uh, can enjoy,you know, food, entertainment and
also probably the, the best view ofthe firework show that you can find.
(21:21):
so, you know, we've gotthings like that going on.
Um, I. So, you know, like I say, we tryto, we try to keep things programmed
so that, you know, people come tothe mall, they might find something
unexpected that's, that's really, thatthey really will find interesting.
Well I think
a lot of what you're talking about withthings such as, you know, different
events and you know, the 4th of Julystuff, the Chamber Expo, a lot of
(21:45):
the other events that you're talkingabout are very much, how do we partner
with the community for events not.
We're putting on an event thatthe community needs to support.
Um, and so how does your guys' teamapproach that sort of community building
aspect through the events and partnership?
(22:06):
Is there, you know, what'sthe strategy behind that?
What are you guys looking for?
If someone's in the communityand is looking to host an
event or, um, further on that?
so in the past, I mean, some of thethings we've done, and I'll, we'll
just use July 4th as an example.
Uh, like last year we partneredwith, uh, the Wish Foundation.
(22:29):
To put on a VIP event, uh, as on thethird floor of the Macy's parking garage.
Uh, this was something that we justthought of as an idea at a staff meeting
and, uh, 'cause we were doing somebrainstorming, Hey, what can we do?
We got this really cool July4th thing going on here.
What can we do to kind of makeit a little extra special?
What can we do to, to, to bringit maybe a little bit to that next
(22:49):
level, elevate it a little bit.
And so, uh, we came up withthis idea and it's like, okay.
Let's find a, let's find apartner out in the community who
wants to work with us on this.
So, uh, you know, the WishFoundation jumped on it.
And, uh, so we worked out a plan,and by we, I mean, uh, Monique,
the marketing manager, uh,spearheaded this, uh, and you know.
(23:11):
were very helpful.
They promoted it through, uh,their own like email database.
We worked with them on, you know,programming the event, uh, and,
and getting people to, to come out.
And we sold about 250 tickets tothe event and were able to use,
uh, some of the funds to make acontribution to the Wish Foundation.
And so everybody washappy with the result.
(23:34):
Uh, and it was a reallygood community event.
And the people there, we got.
So much positive feedback from that.
And it was a lot of fun.
Uh, it was, it, I have to say the,the marketing manager here knows
how to throw a good party and, uh,
so,
It's always a good thing.
yeah.
So people, people had a
Awesome.
Awesome.
(23:54):
that's actually, I mean, just back to
that's kind of how some things canevolve and, and you know, we're
open to other ideas coming infrom the community as well, so.
Reach out to Monique, uh, here at themall office and, you know, and just
kind of pitch the idea we're, we'dbe happy to talk to you about it.
So,
Yeah.
Well, and, and that a hundred percentis shown through the exact events that
(24:18):
we just talked about through the chamberExpo, through all of that type of
stuff that you guys are already doing.
Um, it's definitely not justa, you know, talk, you guys
are definitely, it's definitelythere and shown clearly, so, so.
(24:38):
There's obviously been a lot of talk andbuzz, um, and a lot of people are curious
about what the next, you know, fiveyears, 10 years looks like for the mall.
Obviously we've already talked about,you know, the past and the mall's gonna
continue to partner with the communityand a lot of that type of stuff.
Is there anything, youknow, I know everything.
(25:02):
Is in the planning stage,and until construction's
complete, nothing is finalized.
But is there anythinglike, just, you know,
I've interviewed attorneys,we've, we've done, you know, yeah.
Um, yeah.
But like, you know, what, whatdoes that direction look like?
(25:23):
Obviously, you know, high level.
one of the things that, you know.
I think we have to acknowledge is that,you know, the, the prior ownership of
the mall, uh, and then we're talkingjust a, a couple of years pre Covid had
made some very significant announcementsabout, you know, their, their plans
and intentions to, sort of, you know,redevelop the shopping center and, you
(25:46):
some new, um, new retailing.
so, you know, they made thoseannouncements, then covid happened.
Time goes on.
Uh, so, you know, I think there's a littlebit of, uh, you know, maybe fatigue and or
impatience to see something happen, right?
Be because in, uh, in everybody'sminds, they've been hearing about it
(26:07):
for a long
time.
Uh.
Well, and there's, there'sexpectations I think as well of.
I'm expecting to see the exactplan that was talked about
in 2019, um, type situation.
And in reality, I think one of the otherthings that we do need to at least,
(26:28):
you know, address slightly is shoppingpatterns have changed in five years.
How people go to the mall, what theygo to the mall for, like, you know,
it, it, that's changed a little bit.
Um, so needs to adapt.
Absolutely.
Uh, and, and know, way we'll approachit is really just to, to reposition
(26:50):
the center and, and make it appeal tothe next generation of Santa Clarita
because those shopping patterns change.
Um, and because, you know, we have acenter that, you know, I. it or not, is
resistant to change because, you know,we have a lot of agreements in place, and
so to change things, we have to go backto the parties of those agreements and
(27:12):
get their consent to changes and so on.
So, uh, it's a, it actually isnot as simple as, you know, doing
a plan, uh, bidding it out andgetting shovels in the dirt.
It's, It's, just
Yeah,
Uh,
you mean, you mean, you know,zoning and permitting takes time.
What?
(27:32):
So we wish it could go faster.
Uh, but, you know,
Yeah.
the, you know, maybe that's goodbecause maybe we plan better.
Right.
And so we don't do anything hasty.
Uh, and it, so what we end up withthough, as I is, you know, the.
Is something that's going to serve thecommunity and something that's going to
be something that Valencia is proud of.
I can't go into specifics as to what'sbeing talked about now, and it might
(27:55):
not even be fruitful to do so becausethose plans could change in a week.
Uh, I've, I've, there's a developmentteam working on this and, you know, they
come up with new ideas all the time.
Let's see how this works.
Uh, and there are some, some thingsthat are, you know, that are in the
works that I would love to talk about.
But, you know, I'd be, I'dbe hung if I did so, uh.
(28:16):
Well future episode.
future
you know, stay tuned.
Uh, us, give us a momentto do what we need to do.
I think everybody's gonna bevery happy with the result.
yeah.
So, you know, that's about all I cansay about the redevelopment right now.
Uh, now I will, I do want to, I dowant to actually make a little bit
(28:38):
of a call out to the city because.
You know, I think one of the, one ofthe things that people that's kind of
kept this at the forefront of people'sminds you know, the city is working on
something called the Town Center Plan.
And this was, this was probably, you know,a, a huge topic of conversation last year.
And that's gonna be an enormous benefitto us in our efforts to, to redevelop
(29:01):
the property because it actually, youknow, as long as we kind of stay within
the framework of the Town Center plan,uh, which, you know, is very, very.
and flexible.
Uh, it saves us a lot of, uh, ofthe, uh, you know, review processes
that are inherent in a redevelopment.
So, uh, very forward thinking of the city.
And, you know, Clarita is verylucky to have such forward
(29:24):
thinking, um, city leaders.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that type of stuff is really, Ithink what keeps some of the development
in Santa Clarita moving forwardat the rate that it does, because.
They go in and they say, you know, there'sthis piece of property and we would love
to see A, B, or C here, and we'd loveto see this direction of development.
(29:47):
And if you come in and you are doingsomething with inside of that roughed out
concept, and it's, it is, you know, it'sa generalized direction that the city
has of what they're looking for there.
And if you come in and say, Hey, Iwanna fulfill that, it cuts through
a little bit of the red tape.
Um.
You know, and also the city has donesome, you know, pre-planning and they've
(30:12):
done some, you know, there, there'sa reason why the city is thinking
that that might make sense there.
Um, and you know, I lookacross Santa Clarita.
I look at other, you know,development projects that have
gone on over the years and.
You know, I'm on the Canyon countryside of things and Vista Canyon has been
a different mix of what initially wasgonna be there versus what's there today.
(30:36):
And you know, that project haschanged and transitioned over time.
Um, you know, and it's half built out.
Um, and so, you know, like yousaid, until the shovels are in
the, even when the shovels are inthe ground, it still might change.
Yeah.
You start to build the shovelof a building and you're
like, this is gonna be.
(30:58):
Office space and it's like, well, no onewants to work in an office space anymore.
Cool.
Now it's apartments.
Um, and you know, yeah.
So cool.
what to see them all,
I've seen different stuff that, youknow, some of the different local news
stations have published, and I thinkhaving that sort of mixed use, having.
(31:21):
Uh, I know I go out to like Topanga and,you know, Glendale Galleria and some of
those different like open space outdoorareas, that's a little bit more of a,
you know, the patios is a nice area.
Um, but having those sort ofmore like iconic Americana like.
(31:44):
Outdoor grass park area that can beutilized for that type of an event space
or you know, you go and you hang out.
Um, and some of those are,you know, they're, there's two
mindsets I think in a mall space.
There's the mall of I have to go thereto go grab three things or we're going
(32:04):
there to hang out for the afternoon.
Um, and I think a lot of the.
Redevelopment of different malls has beenlooking at how do we become a destination
le and less of a strip mall essentially.
Um, and so I think, I think the historyof the direction, you know, with things,
(32:29):
like I said, like with the patiosand with some of that development
already, um, you know, has allowed for,for some of that general direction.
Um.
So, yeah, I'm interested to see,you know, fast forward five years
where we at type situation, but youknow, so Well, I know, I know there's
(32:51):
a tragedy over there right now.
I heard Chick-fil-A is temporarily closed.
Well, they're doing a kitchenremodel, so, you know, but I have
heard that the, uh, the one-off,uh, over by Magic Mountain is open.
So, or opening, so we're not without.
chicken needs should we don't
So, yeah,
(33:12):
So, but you know, also got, uh,Popeye's here in, uh, in food court.
If, if anybody needs thatchicken fixed right away, so.
there you go.
Uh, that's good.
That's good.
Awesome.
Well, is there anything else that,you know, people need to know
(33:33):
about what's happening at the mall?
Obviously we will have, um.
You know, the social media website,all that type of stuff in the
show notes and in the YouTubedescription and all of that.
So we'll have all that stuff, um, wherepeople can find out, you know, upcoming
events, you know, for months to come.
(33:53):
Um, but is there anything else thatyou guys wanna talk about or touch
on, or, or people should know about?
we're, working with the LEAP Museumto, uh, we, we had worked with them
last year to, uh, to take a spaceand, and make it sort of like, um, a
popup for, you know, for kids to come.
And it was themed around, you know,career objectives and so was so popular.
(34:16):
It was unreal.
Uh.
And so we had people coming inand they, they liked it so much.
They were only gonna beopen for a short time.
They extended.
And so they wanna do somethingsimilar again this year.
So we're gonna have the LEAP museum back,
so June for the LEAP Museum anduh, yeah, we have, yeah, the
usual back to school coming up.
Uh, we, last year we did a pumpkinpatch, which brought in about 25,000
(34:41):
people over a two week period.
and we did that in conjunctionwith a spirit Halloween.
So there was a nice sort ofsynergy between the two uses.
Uh, we.
We did those over on the, the, uh, theformer Sears into the mall, and that
brought a lot of activity in the area.
We'd love to have them back.
Uh, but we will definitelyhave a pumpkin patch again.
Uh, so, you know, we, we have a, a lot ofdifferent events coming up at the mall.
(35:06):
Uh, I'm glad we'll have we attachingour information to the podcast because
it's people can, people can keep upwith things and we have things come up
at the last minute too that we put in.
So,
Yeah.
And I, I like some of the aspectsthat you're talking about, like the,
the, you know, the types of eventsyou guys are doing are, again, it
just goes back to what we've beentalking about, like they're community
(35:27):
centered, like the pumpkin patch.
You know, you've got a corporatestore, you've got Spirit Halloween
coming in, but then how do wedo something that is, you know.
Community element.
Like you bring in the classicpumpkin patch you bring in,
you know, those elements.
Um, it's cool.
It's cool.
So yeah, I will say Santa Clarita,you know, as a whole, needs a
(35:51):
permanent children's museum.
I don't know if that ends up at themall or elsewhere, but you know, I
know there's been, I know there's beentalks, there's been a city survey and
there's been other stuff going around.
So, um, the good thing is.
There's conversations happening.
So that's always the start of it, so.
Awesome.
Well, it's been an awesome conversation.
(36:12):
Uh, before we close out, uh, doyou have any questions for me?
Get to flip the script a little bit there.
well, I've already asked you the big oneabout what you'd like to see at the mall.
Um, so how did you getinvolved in, in doing
podcasts?
I'm
Yeah.
So yeah, so I own a marketing agencyand so we're full service, digital
(36:32):
marketing agency, and I actually starteddoing podcasting during Covid because
my big 2020, you know, um, goal was tojoin the chamber and do more in-person
events and then we know how that went.
Quickly south.
Um, and so I, my team at the timewas entirely remote and I had an
(37:03):
office in my garage and so I didn'tsee the light of day or many humans.
And so I was like, I wanna be ableto have conversations with different
people and I can't go to Starbucksand hang out and talk to people.
'cause that's.
Just not something you can do right now.
And so I started a podcast justtalking to other business owners
and talking about, you know.
(37:23):
What they're doing and thestruggles that they've faced.
And, and then life happenedand got busy and I, you know,
did a bunch of episodes there.
And Corey, uh, my co-host,he and I were chatting.
He actually is in podcast production,like this is what he does.
He ha he hosts a handful of showsand produces and does all that.
And so he and I were talking and, um.
(37:47):
Uh, we both sort of had thesame like, man, I like we
need a Santa Clarita podcast.
Like we need something that talks tobusiness owners here in Santa Clarita.
And at that point we were trying tofigure out like, okay, do we just,
you know, hit a bunch of randombusinesses and just do it that way?
Like, can we partner with somebody?
(38:07):
And we approached the chamber on it andsaid, Hey, this is what we'd love to do.
And um, the chamber said.
We've been thinking aboutsomething and we circled back
and said, okay, here's the plan.
Like here's some guestswe wanna record with.
And the chamber was like,oh, you are serious.
And it was very much that element of,you know, you have people who come in
(38:28):
and are like, you guys should do this.
And you're like.
Cool.
I'm not putting that together.
I don't have time to do that.
But then someone else comes in and says,okay, I wanna host this event at the mall.
This is what I want to do.
These are the vendors I have.
This is what I want to do.
I've got all my stuff set up.
And you're like,
okay.
Let's figure out a date.
Let's find what works.
(38:48):
Like those are two very different.
Events.
Um, and that's, so that'ssort of how it went.
So we approached the chamberon it and it's been great.
It's been awesome conversations.
Um, and, uh, it's just good to, youknow, no, dig into some of Santa
CITAs history and some of the big,you know, big businesses, small
(39:08):
businesses, all different stuffout here and, and really just, um,
you know, get to knoweverybody a little bit better.
So.
I
of Covid and kind of turnedit into something more social.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
What,
it's been good.
have you that's sort that youkind of never, never thought you
(39:29):
would, and that maybe was a littlebit of a paradigm shift for you?
what I quickly found was this is.
A medium that does a few things.
It one allows us to have areally good conversation to
get to know each other better.
It produces content that allows thecommunity to get to know both of us.
(39:51):
Um, and it's, it's really justa, a different medium and I
enjoy having these conversations.
Enjoy, you know, um, you know, gettingto know people and, and, you know,
yeah, we chatted for five minutesat a chamber event, you know, but I.
There's so much more that you can actuallysit down and have a conversation about
(40:15):
and sort of let others sort of sitthere and, and listen to it as well.
So it's fun.
on, on your podcast andum, thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
Awesome.
Yeah, it was great having you.
As always.
Please follow, rate and reviewus wherever you get your podcast.
(40:36):
You can follow the voicesof business on social media.
Uh, you can find me Joshua Madduxon LinkedIn and other socials.
You can follow Cory at Cory sNathan and the malls contact
info and social media and.
Website.
We'll all be in the show notes as well.
We'd love to have you orother local business leaders
(40:57):
join in on the conversation.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see younext time on the Voices of Business.
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