SCV Talk · Archive
Nine years of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
SCV Talk
September 14, 2012· scvtalk.com · Blogger (SCVTalk 4.0) · Wayback capture

Intrigued by The Madison, ctd.

By Rider — Jeff Wilson

I'm not the only one intrigued by the urban-but-not-urban Madison apartments on McBean & Town Center Drive:

I'm also intrigued by the Madison. Granted, the experience was probably richer when you had a bookstore and some more interesting business on TCD, but it's certainly one of the most walkable spots in the SCV. Don't forget that it's just as close to the Pavilion's center as it is to the mall, and just two crosswalks away from Target and Sprouts. In a five-minute walk, there is at least 13 sit-down restaurants, two supermarkets (three if you count Target), a movie theater, two gyms and the meth-den that was once The Greens.
IIRC, it opened as apartments as "Prado at Town Center". In the boom, they tried to cash in and sell the units as condos. They weren't able to sell all of them as the bubble burst and they went back to renting. Smart move, because the rent is still too damn high. Looks like some of the units are still condos, and they fetch about half (ouch) of what they did in 2006.
I don't know much of this world any more, but from time to time, I've helped friends find apartments in the SCV. The fancier-looking places in Valencia seem to also be the most notorious for being populated with loud, drunk college-aged kids. Quite a contrast to 12 years ago when our 1st apartment in Valencia was so quiet and we may have been the youngest tenants there.
I don't count having to cross high speed streets as wide as a football field is long (exaggerating, but barely) as walkable, but your point stands. You could walk & shop at Pavilions, then Target, then Home Goods. Then push all your loot home in a stolen Sprouts cart across the ginormous roads and finish off the day at the Black Angus. 

But really, what's a guy gotta do to get a paseo bridge up in this place? The nearest one is probably a half mile up Magic Mountain or a quarter mile south on McBean. So much for the master plan. 

My first SCV apartment experience was on Walnut Street in Newhall. Let's just say I could set my watch to the Mexican produce truck horns. It wasn't exactly quiet, but it was full of families. 



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