Local Market  ·  What It Means for Your Home Value

Thousand Oaks Is Finally Getting a Real Downtown. Here’s Why Every Homeowner Should Care.

By David Schoenbrun  ·  Pacific Home Group at Y Realty  ·  5 min read

I’ve lived and worked in the Conejo Valley my whole life, and I’ll be honest — for years the knock on Thousand Oaks was that it didn’t really have a downtown. You had the Oaks Mall. You had a great arts scene at the Kavli Theatre. But that walkable, gather-after-dinner, grab-a-coffee-and-stay-a-while kind of downtown? It wasn’t really here. That’s about to change in a serious way.

Okay But What Actually Is This Project?

The City Council voted unanimously to authorize this project, which the mayor called “the most consequential decision this council has made since building the Civic Arts Plaza 30 years ago.” That’s not marketing talk. That’s city leadership putting its reputation behind a major bet on the future of this community.

The project spans the existing Civic Arts Plaza at 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard and a currently vacant 3-acre parcel just west of City Hall. According to the city’s official Downtown project page, when it’s done you’re looking at:

• A brand new City Hall building
• A 7-story boutique hotel with 142 rooms
• 240-plus new housing units across two mixed-use buildings
• A food hall and public market showcasing local small businesses
• New walkable shops and restaurants along a pedestrian “Main Street”
• An outdoor amphitheater between The Lakes and the Civic Arts Plaza
• A grand staircase connecting the Kavli Theatre directly to Thousand Oaks Boulevard
• 92% of existing mature native oak trees preserved on site

That last one matters to me personally. Those oak trees are part of what makes Thousand Oaks feel like Thousand Oaks. The fact that the city fought hard to keep them says a lot about how this project is being approached.

The kind of walkable, mixed-use street life the Downtown Thousand Oaks project is designed to create along the Boulevard corridor

What Does This Mean for Property Values?

This is the question I get from every client the moment they hear about this. And the answer, based on what we’ve seen in comparable cities, is that catalytic downtown investments like this one drive real, sustained appreciation in surrounding neighborhoods.

Think about what happened to property values in Westlake Village after The Lakes became a destination. Or what happened in Pasadena when Old Town became walkable. People pay a premium to live near places they actually want to be. That’s not a theory. That’s buyer behavior.

Right now, Thousand Oaks homes offer significantly more square footage and neighborhood quality than comparable homes in Santa Monica or Woodland Hills at a fraction of the price. Add a genuine downtown core and that value gap closes. Buyers who buy now are buying ahead of that curve.

The Thousand Oaks Acorn reported that Councilmember Mikey Taylor called this project “the catalyst that really adds firepower to our local economy.” I don’t disagree with that one bit.

Modern mixed-use development with preserved oak trees — exactly the architectural direction the new downtown project is targeting

When Does Construction Start and How Long Will It Take?

The city has been clear and specific about the timeline, which I appreciate. There’s nothing worse than a “coming soon” that turns into a decade of renderings and no shovels in the ground. This one has actual dates.

Project Timeline
Phase 1	Starts Summer 2026. Grading, utilities, demolition, site prep, new Main Street, new City Hall, town square.
Phase 2	Mixed-use residential buildings, courtyard, public market and food hall on the west parcel.
Phase 3	Completes Spring 2030. Adaptive reuse of existing City Hall as retail and restaurants, exterior enhancements throughout.

The existing Thousand Oaks City Hall and Civic Arts Plaza — the anchor of the $123.4 million downtown redevelopment

Is Thousand Oaks Already a Good Place to Buy? Even Before the Downtown?

I’m obviously biased here — I grew up in the Conejo Valley and I’ve built my career around it. But the data backs up what I already know from living here.

Thousand Oaks is one of the top 10 safest cities in California according to SafeWise’s 2026 rankings — and at 126,000 residents, it’s the largest city on that list by a significant margin. Most safe cities are tiny suburbs where the crime rate is low because there’s almost nobody there. Keeping violent crime at 1.0 per 1,000 residents in a city this size takes sustained commitment from local leadership.

We also just got an “excellent report card” from our own residents. The city’s biennial Community Attitude Survey came back with scores rising over the past three years across quality of life, city leadership, communication, and community safety. When people who already live somewhere keep saying they love it, that tells you something real.

Add in top-rated Conejo Valley Unified schools, direct access to Santa Monica Mountain trails, 30 minutes to the beach, and a genuine small-town feel that coexists with every amenity you could want — and you start to understand why the families who move here tend to stay.

By the Numbers

Downtown Thousand Oaks Project  +  City Stats
Total city investment	$123.4 million
Project footprint	106 acres
New housing units	240+
Boutique hotel	7-story · 142 rooms
Construction start	Summer 2026
Project completion (Phase 3)	Spring 2030
SafeWise safest cities CA 2026	Top 10
Niche “Best Cities to Live” ranking	#37 in America

The Bottom Line

I’ve been selling homes in the Conejo Valley for years and I’ve watched this community grow without ever quite getting the downtown it deserved. That changes now. A $123.4 million civic investment, construction starting this summer, and a city that already ranks top 10 safest in California while delivering top-rated schools and mountain-to-beach lifestyle. The foundation here is as strong as I’ve seen it.

If you’ve been sitting on the fence about buying in Thousand Oaks, or wondering whether now is the time to sell and capture your equity before this market shifts further, I’d love to talk through the actual numbers with you. This is what we do every single day.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

• Will construction hurt property values while it’s happening?

  Short term, construction near the immediate Civic Arts Plaza area may create some noise and traffic inconvenience. But buyers are forward-looking. Homes near planned urban improvements typically see appreciation accelerate as projects near completion, not after. The announcement itself is already a positive signal.

• Which neighborhoods will benefit most?

  Anything within easy access of the Thousand Oaks Boulevard corridor stands to benefit most directly. Neighborhoods like Conejo Oaks, Lynn Ranch, Sunset Hills, and homes along the Boulevard are worth paying close attention to right now.

• Is now a good time to buy in Thousand Oaks before the downtown opens?

  In our view, yes. Buyers who purchase ahead of catalytic development tend to see the largest gains. Once the hotel, the food hall, and the Main Street are open and drawing people to the city, the pricing will already reflect that. The window is in the before, not the after.

• Where can I see the full city project page?

  The city’s official project page is at toaks.gov/downtown. The project is formally called the Downtown Thousand Oaks Project (DTTO).

• How do I find out what homes are available in Thousand Oaks right now?

  Call or text us at (805) 404-6510 or visit thepacifichomegroup.com. We work the Conejo Valley every single day and will give you a straight, current picture of what’s available and what’s priced well.