Vista Canyon’s development, fairly visible from Highway 14, recently checked another milestone as the Santa Clarita City Council awarded a $1 million construction contract to begin the site’s main transportation feature.

At their regular meeting on Oct. 22, council members voted unanimously to award Irvine-based RailPros with the construction contract for the buildout of a new Metrolink Station — originally approved by the City Council in May 2011 — that will run with the agency’s Antelope Valley Line.

“With the city’s action this week, we’re glad to have reached this because we’ve been working closely and have both invested interest to get something this large done,” said Steve Valenziano, development partner with JSB Development President Jim Backer for Vista Canyon.

The transit center is the project’s cherry on top, said Valenziano.

“Vista Canyon can be summarized as live, work, walkability and transit,” he said. “People can live on the project, buy, rent, walk to shops and eat or work. The cherry on the sundae, if you will, is the transit center that Metrolink Antelope Valley Line connects to the Antelope Valley or to the Union Station in downtown. It’s sort of the unique proposition of Vista Canyon.”

The construction project will include a grade-separated pedestrian crossing to a center track platform, a new railroad bridge, sound walls and amenities such as canopies, benches, landscaping and a security system, according to the city’s project description.

The Metrolink Station is planned to run adjacent to and supplement the area’s bus station, which is currently out to bid and award under a separate contract. Construction of the station is expected to commence as soon as June or July of 2020, said Valenziano.

As the transportation portion of the 185-acre, mixed-use, pedestrian-and cyclist-friendly community advances, the project’s housing and commercial features are also well underway — a positive sign that the project is on track to welcome its first occupants by early 2020, according to developers.

Lincoln Place, Vista Canyon’s work, retail and entertainment headquarters, houses the first completed office and retail structure and construction of a second 50,000-square-foot building are slated for mid-2020. The buildings are designed to have retail space on the first floors and office space above. To complement these structures, parking buildings should be completed by December.

On the western side of the property, 480 luxury apartments by builders JPI are still under construction and expect to have their first occupancy by the summer of next year, said Valenziano. Homebuilder KB Homes, developing 245 detached homes on the eastern end of Vista Canyon, expects to start vertical construction soon and have a grand opening in January.

Vista Canyon’s water plant is currently wrapping up testing and developers expect to commence operating in early 2020, Valenziano added.