For most of August, the only sign of life in front of Marmalade Cafe has been a catering truck idling at the curb. The restaurant closed its doors on August 2, ending a run that started when The Commons at Calabasas itself opened in 1998. In a statement to customers, the company pointed to a steep drop in business from the construction now underway across the center, and said it had asked its landlord for rent relief during the disruption and been turned down. Fresh Brothers Pizza, a few doors down, closed for similar reasons.
If you've lived here through a normal August, this is the part where you'd expect the story to end: beloved local spot closes, mall under construction, everybody grumbles about parking. But that's not actually what's happening at The Commons right now, and it's not what's happening in Calabasas either. The construction has split the neighborhood's eating-and-gathering map into two working halves that are running on almost opposite logic, and knowing which half is open, and why, is the more useful thing to understand than just "avoid the mall for now."
What's actually closing, and why it's not the whole story
The redevelopment behind all of this is called Commons Lane. The Calabasas City Council approved it unanimously back in December 2023, and construction broke ground in early 2026 on the site of the old Regency Calabasas movie theater, which shut down for good on December 28, 2025, the last operating movie theater in the stretch between Thousand Oaks and Woodland Hills. The plan adds roughly 27,000 square feet of new shops and restaurants along with 80 apartments tucked between the storefronts and the hillside. Caruso, the developer, has said the new commercial space is targeted to open by the end of this year, with the apartments following in fall 2027.
That's the part causing the pain, concentrated on the west side of the property where Marmalade and Fresh Brothers sat. It's also only one part of the property. Elsewhere in the center, longtime tenants Ralphs, Polacheck's Jewelers, See's Candies and King's Fish House are still running exactly as they always have, alongside anchor Barnes & Noble.
The new lineup that's already open
Here's the part that gets lost in the "construction chaos" framing: a meaningful chunk of the new Commons Lane roster is already open for business, not still behind plywood.
- Superba Food + Bread, the Venice Beach import known for its bakery program and grain bowls, has been serving breakfast through dinner seven days a week.
- KazuNori, the hand-roll bar spinoff tied to the SUGARFISH lineage, has already found regulars.
- BLVD Steak is running its weekend prix-fixe and cocktail program.
- Bacio di Latte has been doing a summer-long deal on affogatos, 30 percent off Monday through Thursday afternoons.
None of these are consolation prizes. If your read on The Commons is still "half the storefronts are dark," it's worth an actual drive-through, because the new tenants that have opened are already doing real volume.
The logistics have changed, even if the vibe hasn't
Caruso's own construction FAQ lays out what's different day to day. Valet parking now runs Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., staged near SUGARFISH and Polacheck's Jewelers. A section of the drive aisle between the two new buildings has been converted from two-way to one-way to keep circulation moving during the build. Surface parking is still there, just reshuffled around the construction fence line. None of this is the kind of thing that shows up on a portal listing, but it's the difference between a smooth Saturday dinner and twenty minutes of circling.
The other half of the map: Old Town never stopped
While the Commons Lane story has dominated the conversation, the actual center of gravity for a lot of weekend routines has quietly held steady on Calabasas Road in Old Town.
The Calabasas Farmers Market has run every Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Calabasas Road just west of El Canon Avenue, directly across from Sagebrush Cantina, for years, and construction at the Commons hasn't touched it. Free parking, produce stalls, the same rhythm it's always had.
The bigger story is who just opened nearby. Jon & Vinny's, the California-Italian spot from chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, opened its new Calabasas location on July 27 at 23538 Calabasas Road, right across from Sagebrush Cantina, putting one of the more talked-about restaurant names in Los Angeles a short walk from the farmers market rather than inside the mall undergoing construction. A few minutes away on Las Virgenes Road, Salsa & Beer Mexican Grill has signage up at 4895 Las Virgenes and was finishing construction as of early summer, with an opening expected soon. And Pedalers Fork, the combination restaurant, bar, coffee shop and bike shop that's been an Old Town fixture, is still running its full slate: breakfast through dinner, weekend brunch, and a Thursday-through-Saturday taqueria pop-up until 9 p.m.
Put plainly: the newest, most talked-about restaurant opening in Calabasas this summer didn't land at The Commons at all. It landed across the street from the farmers market that's been running the same way since before Commons Lane was ever announced.
What's on the calendar this month regardless
Construction or not, the city's regular August programming is running on schedule, and it's worth having on hand if you haven't looked at the calendar in a few weeks.
| Event | Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Hike & Yoga, Topanga Outlook Trail | August 1 | Meet 5:30 a.m., hike begins 5:40 a.m. | 1498 Topanga Ridge Motorway |
| Sunset Summer Concert Series: Gold Rush Country | August 2 | 6 p.m. | Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center |
| National Night Out | August 4 | 6 to 8 p.m. | Calabasas Civic Center |
| Sunset Summer Concert Series: Fantastic Diamond (Neil Diamond tribute) | August 23 | 6 p.m. | Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center |
| Chamber's Mayoral Luncheon | August 27 | 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. | Calabasas Country Club |
The hike is free, capped at 15 participants, no pets permitted on the trail, and cell service is limited once you're on it. Both concert nights are free admission, bring your own chairs and a picnic.
The actual takeaway
The easy version of this story is "the mall is under construction, things are disrupted, wait it out." The more accurate version is that Calabasas's daily map has temporarily forked. One half, the Commons Lane construction zone, has real short-term casualties, Marmalade and Fresh Brothers among them, but has also already delivered working restaurants worth a visit. The other half, Old Town on Calabasas Road, hasn't been touched by any of it and just landed the summer's biggest opening. Treating the whole neighborhood as one disrupted zone means missing both halves of what's actually available right now.
If you're weighing a move within Calabasas, thinking about what a property near either corridor is worth once Commons Lane finishes its retail phase later this year, or just curious how a project like this tends to affect surrounding home values over time, that's a conversation Sean Curts has with Conejo Valley clients regularly. Request a free home valuation to start that conversation whenever you're ready.
