If you've driven past The Commons lately and wondered whether it's under construction or open for business, the honest answer is both, in two different places, on two different timelines. That mix is easy to misread. Fencing goes up near the old theater, a friend mentions a new restaurant she just tried, and the two facts get stitched into one story: the redevelopment is finally coming together. It isn't, not yet. What's actually happening is that most of what feels new at The Commons right now has nothing to do with the construction site at all.
The Commons You Already Know Hasn't Moved
The north and south ends of the property, where Barnes & Noble, See's Candies, and Lululemon have anchored the center for years, along with Gelson's, remain largely untouched by any of the current work. That's also where the recent run of new openings has landed. KazuNori, BLVD Steak, Bacio di Latte, and the Zimmermann boutique have all moved into the existing footprint over the past year or so, with persistent word that Uovo is next. Superba Food + Bread opened its 1,800-square-foot space there back in March 2025, nearly a year before anyone broke ground on the redevelopment next door.
None of that is part of Commons Lane. It's ordinary tenant turnover in the two-thirds of the center that was never scheduled to change.
Here's the distinction that actually matters if you're trying to figure out what to expect this year:
| The existing Commons (north and south ends) | The Commons Lane expansion (west side, former theater site) | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Open and operating normally | Active construction |
| Recent activity | New tenants moving in and opening (KazuNori, BLVD Steak, Superba, Bacio di Latte, Zimmermann) | Tenant build-outs just beginning; parking structure under construction |
| What you'd notice | New storefronts, no disruption | Fencing, equipment, a construction footprint where the parking lot and theater used to be |
| Next milestone | Ongoing, no fixed date | New shops and restaurants opening in phases, starting late 2026 |
What Actually Disappeared First
The piece that's genuinely gone, and gone for good, is the movie theater. It had already been through more than one identity before it closed. The building opened in 1998 as the Edwards Grand Palace Stadium 6, ran for years under Regal, and closed in September 2022 when Regal's parent company, Cineworld, filed for bankruptcy. It reopened under new management as Regency at Calabasas Commons in December 2022 with an upgrade to recliner seating, then shut down permanently on December 28, 2025.
That closing wasn't isolated. It followed theater closures in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village in recent years, which means Calabasas is now the third city in that stretch of the corridor to lose its on-screen option. If you're used to catching a movie without leaving town, that errand now means driving somewhere else.
The empty theater is also the reason the rest of this story exists. Its footprint, plus a chunk of the adjacent parking lot, is exactly where the new construction is happening.
What's Really Under Construction Right Now
The Calabasas City Council approved the redevelopment, branded Commons Lane, in December 2023 after roughly two years of public meetings, and construction broke ground on February 3, 2026, with Rick Caruso on site. The approved plan calls for about 27,000 square feet of new shops and restaurants and 80 apartment homes, split across five buildings. The one replacing the theater is approved to rise as high as 85 feet, while the others, built where surface parking used to sit, top out at 46 feet.
"For nearly 30 years, The Commons at Calabasas has been a place where the community comes together," Caruso's chief executive, Corinne Verdery, said at the groundbreaking.
That's not marketing filler so much as a fair description of what the city council was weighing when it approved the project. Height was the sticking point during that 2023 vote. Councilmember James Bozajian, now the city's mayor, called the 85-foot maximum "extraordinary" at the time and asked that the project return to the council if the final design grew any larger. It didn't. As part of the approval, Caruso also committed to a $120,000 traffic mitigation fee, which council members debated how to put toward the congestion concerns raised during that meeting.
As of this summer, the center's own construction update puts the work squarely in a build-out phase: from July through September 2026, crews are finishing the shells for the new shops and restaurants and handing some of those spaces to tenants so they can start their own interior work, while the parking structure that will eventually serve the apartments is also under active construction.
When You Can Actually Expect Something New
The retail and residential pieces are not on the same clock, and that's useful to know if you're the type who checks in on a project every few months and gets frustrated when nothing looks different. Caruso's team has said publicly that some of the new stores and restaurants could open by the end of 2026, while the 80 apartment homes aren't expected until 2027. The center's own FAQ page is more specific about the residential piece, targeting completion in Fall 2027, and it notes the plan deliberately sequences things so the shops and restaurants open first, roughly midway through the overall construction timeline.
In practice, that means the next thing most residents will notice isn't a finished building. It's a new storefront or two opening on the west side of Commons Lane sometime in the back half of this year, well before the apartments above and behind them are anywhere close to ready.
Why This Matters If You Already Live Here
The easy mistake is treating The Commons as one project on one timeline, waiting for a grand reopening before you go back. There isn't going to be one. Most of the center never stopped operating, and the businesses that have genuinely changed in the last year, the restaurants and the boutique you've probably already tried, opened in the part of the property that was never under construction to begin with. The section that is under construction, the old theater site and the adjacent lot, is moving on its own separate schedule, with new tenants only now taking possession of raw space this summer and a realistic opening window starting late this year.
If you've been holding off on a visit because you assumed the whole property was a work site, that assumption is costing you nothing more than a few new dinner reservations you could have already made. If you've been wondering why the closest movie theater suddenly requires a longer drive, that part is real, and it isn't reopening.
Calabasas keeps changing in ways that are easy to misread from the outside. If you want a clearer read on what's actually happening in this neighborhood, from a resident who tracks it closely, reach out to Nancy Cassidy. Let's Connect — Schedule a Consultation.
