"Despite being a 20-year-old plan, it's only about 40% complete." That is how Robert Younkin, president of the Old Town Newhall Association, described the Old Town Newhall Specific Plan in January 2026, after two decades of city effort to remake Main Street into a walkable arts and dining district. If you have been looking at listings near Old Town Newhall, you have probably read some version of that promise already: walking distance to a revitalized downtown, close to the arts district, steps from Main Street. Downtown Newhall today has two layers, the part that is built and operating and the part that is still proposed, and the difference between them is worth understanding before you buy nearby.
That distinction matters more this year than it has in a while, because the project meant to prove the plan still works nearly fell apart in the spring, and the city is already negotiating a second one with the same developer.
The Plan Behind the Promise
The Old Town Newhall Specific Plan was adopted by the City Council in December 2005, covering a 20-block stretch of Main Street with the goal of turning a historic but underused core into a mixed-use district built on transit access and pedestrian design. Two decades later, the plan's clearest success is Newhall Crossings, a mixed-use project on the north end of Main Street that brought a Laemmle theater and a 400-space parking structure to the district. It was built by Serrano Development Group, a Pasadena-based developer led by Jason Tolleson, and city officials still point to it as the template for what the rest of downtown is supposed to become.
The plan called for a matching parking structure at the south end of Main Street to bookend that success. Twenty years after adoption, that second structure still does not exist, which is part of why Younkin's 40% figure landed the way it did.
Main Street's Newest Promise Almost Fell Apart
The project meant to fill that gap this decade is called The Hartwell. The City Council first approved it in May 2025 as a five-story, 52-foot mixed-use building with 78 apartments and roughly 5,200 square feet of commercial space, sited on a corner of Main Street, Market Street, and Railroad Avenue. Getting there meant clearing several existing structures:
- Mac's Pool Supply
- Horseshoe on Main, formerly Soundsations
- The historic Masonic Lodge and Courthouse building, with an effort made to preserve its original holding cell bars
In June 2025, Serrano applied to expand the project further, folding in the adjacent KHTS radio station building next door. The council approved that expansion on August 26, 2025, in a session tense enough that Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste recused herself again, leaving just three council members, Bill Miranda, Marsha McLean, and Patsy Ayala, to decide its fate. Developer Jason Tolleson told the council that folding in the KHTS property was the cleanest way to resolve the project's noise and mitigation requirements. The finished plan grew to 98 apartments, about 6,300 square feet of commercial space, and 158 parking stalls.
Then the deal that made the expansion possible started to come apart. KHTS finalized its move to a new location on Avenue Crocker in Valencia on March 13, 2026, under a five-year lease, holding up its end of an agreement that assumed Serrano would close on buying its old building. Instead, an attorney representing Serrano sent a letter in April acknowledging delays tied to what the company called broader project challenges, and by April 21, 2026, reporting from Santa Clarita's KHTS described the deal as in danger of collapsing entirely, with the contract's closing date already passed and Serrano telling the outlet it lacked the financing to complete the purchase. A radio station had already moved out of its building on the strength of a deal that, as of that reporting, had not closed.
That is the most recent public update on Hartwell. Whether the financing issue has since been resolved is not something the record confirms.
Where Each Main Street Project Actually Stands
| Project | Status as of 2026 | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Newhall Crossings | Built and operating | Laemmle theater, 400-space parking structure |
| The Hartwell | Approved and expanded in 2025; financing on a key parcel stalled by April 2026 | 98 apartments, retail space, on-site parking |
| South Main Street parking and condo project | In exclusive negotiations since January 2026 | Roughly 65 condos, a matching parking structure, small retail |
The City Is Negotiating With the Same Developer Again
While Hartwell's financing question was unresolved, the City Council had already moved on to a separate deal with the same company. In late January 2026, the council voted to enter exclusive negotiations with Serrano for that long-promised south-end parking structure, this time paired with about 65 condos and a small retail component on three city-owned parcels, the former Coffey Parking Lot, the former Roger Dunn golf shop, and a smaller adjacent lot. The structure alone is expected to cost the city more than $20 million.
City officials framed it as the deal that finally book-ends the district's redevelopment. Not every council member was convinced the terms would favor the city. Councilwoman Marsha McLean pressed staff on funding and design consistency, and said plainly of the previous Hartwell negotiation that Serrano "got away with murder," adding that she hoped the same thing would not happen again on this project, according to signalscv.com's coverage of the January council session. The negotiation was still at the terms stage, with price, design, and timing to be settled, and the reporting through April 2026 does not show a finished agreement.
None of this means downtown Newhall isn't functioning. Main Street's existing businesses, the Laemmle theater, and the Canyon Theatre Guild are open and drawing people on any given weekend. The next phase of the district, meaning The Hartwell and the south-end parking and condo project, is still in negotiation and is not yet an operating amenity.
What the Price Data Actually Shows
None of that uncertainty has slowed buyer interest. Sold prices in Newhall over the three months ending May 2026 came in at a median of $899,000, up 6.4% from the same period a year earlier, with homes selling in about 26 days on average and drawing roughly three offers, down from 43 days on market the year before. In September 2026, the median list price across active Newhall listings was $854,000, a snapshot that measures something slightly different, what sellers are asking now rather than what buyers closed at a few months earlier, but points in the same direction.
One number complicates the story. Median price per square foot fell 10.4% year over year over that same three-month window even as the median sale price rose. A rising median price alongside a falling price per square foot usually means the mix of what is selling has shifted, toward larger homes, or homes further from the immediate downtown core, rather than every home gaining value at the same rate. For a buyer comparing two similarly priced homes near Old Town Newhall, that gap is a reason to ask for price per square foot on the specific comps rather than anchoring on the neighborhood median.
What to Ask Before You Anchor on "Walking Distance to Downtown"
Separate what is built from what is promised. Newhall Crossings, the Laemmle theater, and the existing Main Street storefronts are finished and operating today. The Hartwell and the new parking and condo project are not, and one of them stalled publicly within the last six months.
Ask what a listing agent actually means by proximity to downtown. A home two blocks from an operating theater and a five-minute walk from a stalled construction site are both technically walking distance to downtown, but they are not describing the same experience for the next several years.
Treat the plan's 40% completion figure as context for how long these projects tend to take, not as a prediction about the next one.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Early
Is The Hartwell cancelled? No cancellation has been reported. The most recent public update, from April 2026, described the financing on the KHTS parcel as stalled with the closing date already passed, not the project as terminated.
Does this affect what's already open in Old Town Newhall today? No. Newhall Crossings, the Laemmle theater, and Main Street's existing shops and restaurants are built and operating regardless of how the newer projects resolve.
Should this change my offer on a home near downtown? It's a factor to raise with your agent alongside the comps, not a reason to avoid the area. Homes near an established, operating stretch of Main Street are a different bet than homes near a site still tied up in negotiation.
If you are weighing a home near Old Town Newhall against something in Saugus, Canyon Country, or elsewhere in the valley, the state of Main Street's next phase deserves the same scrutiny as the comps themselves. Montemayor & Associates has spent years pricing homes across the Santa Clarita Valley and can walk you through what's actually finished on Main Street, what's still being negotiated, and what that split should mean for your offer. Contact us to talk it through before you write one.
