Sherman Oaks' Subway Moved to Van Nuys Boulevard. What Buyers Can't Know Until 2027

At the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard, Crave Café and Pita Kitchen share a storefront edge. Just north, at 5043 Van Nuys Boulevard, sits the former Corky's, a Googie-style Historic-Cultural Monument where Chick-fil-A operates today. Metro's planned station is somewhere under this intersection. It is the only stop Sherman Oaks gets on the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, the underground line meant to link the Valley to UCLA and the Westside.

Most buyers have heard a subway is coming, and most picture it under Sepulveda Boulevard. That was true of some earlier versions. It hasn't been true of the selected plan since January. The more useful fact for someone comparing blocks today is that the property-level route hasn't been published. Metro says that information will come in a Recirculated Draft EIR expected in 2027. So anyone buying in eastern Sherman Oaks this fall is buying before that map exists.

The Line Changed Boulevards in January

On January 22, 2026, Metro's board unanimously chose what it calls Modified Alternative 5 as the locally preferred alternative. It combines two of the alternatives studied in the Draft EIR. It takes the automated heavy-rail trains and single-bore tunnel from Alternative 5 and the Valley route under Van Nuys Boulevard from Alternative 6. Metro's spring 2026 fact sheet describes an underground line of about 12 miles with seven stations. In Metro's words, no elevated structures are needed in the Valley.

The Sherman Oaks fights that people remember were mostly about routes Metro didn't pick. The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association opposed Alternative 4 because it ran above ground along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Valley. SOHA also flagged the 8-foot-diameter high-pressure water main under Sepulveda, which runs from Valley Vista to near Oxnard Street, as a tunneling risk for Alternative 5. Moving the route to Van Nuys Boulevard set both issues aside, and SOHA's board unanimously supported the selection. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who sits on Metro's board, told Spectrum Local News that SOHA and the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council had worked with Metro and supported the alignment.

Metro's own explanation says the change was meant to address neighborhood concerns. At the January 14 planning committee meeting, Metro Senior Executive Officer Cecily Way said:

"By shifting the alignment to Van Nuys Boulevard and refining the tunneling approach, we are addressing several of the key concerns regarding neighborhood impacts and construction risks."

So the station moved east. Metro's stop list now goes Van Nuys Metrolink, G Line/Van Nuys, Ventura/Van Nuys, then UCLA. Sherman Way isn't on it, and there's no stop at Sepulveda and Ventura. South of Ventura, Metro describes a tunnel that runs straight to a UCLA station, more than 1.5 miles east of the 405. That points to a path under parts of Sherman Oaks south of the boulevard. Metro hasn't confirmed which streets, though. SOHA's February 2026 update lists "the exact route and its noise and vibration impacts under some residential areas in Sherman Oaks and Bel Air" among its open concerns.

What Is Public Today, and What Isn't

Here is how the facts stand as of October 2026, based on Metro's project FAQ and its project page:

Metro has published a conceptual station study for the Alternative 6 version of the stop. It shows an underground station at Ventura and Van Nuys with one entrance, and it is a concept, not a final design. Metro says the selected route generally follows Alternative 6 in the Valley, but "multiple design refinements are underway" that could produce impacts different from those in the 2025 Draft EIR.

The Friction Sits in the Easement, Not the Train

For a household under the route, everyday trains probably aren't the main issue. Metro says trains in bored tunnels "generally produce no noticeable noise or vibration at the surface." Its examples are the D Line extension, the K Line, and the Regional Connector, where tunneling went ahead without disturbing nearby schools and theaters. Noise and vibration are concentrated at surface facilities like station entrances, ventilation structures, and the sites where boring machines go in and come out. Launch and retrieval sites are usually the largest and busiest of these, with stockpiled tunnel liner segments and trucks hauling away soil. The selected plan also drops the mid-mountain ventilation shaft that Alternative 6 included in the Draft EIR.

The longer-lasting factor is property rights. Metro says most rail projects acquire temporary and permanent rights, including underground easements for tunnels and stations. Some of those easements let Metro review private development plans for construction above or next to the easement area. Metro adds that in many cases this review is routine and handled through the city's normal permit process. How much review applies depends on how close a project is to Metro facilities and on site conditions. That matters to buyers in this part of the Valley who are thinking about an ADU, an addition, or a rebuild. Whether a given lot would carry an easement is something nobody can answer until the parcel-level route is published.

When Metro needs property, it says it tries for a negotiated agreement first and treats eminent domain as a last resort. The process falls under the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act, and Metro's property acquisition fact sheet lays it out.

Station-area parking also changes. Metro doesn't control streets it doesn't own, but it says it works with the city to identify restrictions, such as residential parking permit programs, that discourage riders from parking on streets near a station. A new parking analysis for the selected plan is still to come.

Why Every Opening Date You've Heard Is Provisional

Opening years quoted in listing remarks and news coverage come from different plans and different sources, and they don't agree.

1. Measure M. SOHA says the ballot measure promised an opening in 2036 at the latest, a deadline it calls "basically impossible" given the design and environmental work still ahead.
2. An August 2026 trade roundup. Tunnel Business Magazine listed a forecast opening of 2033 to 2035 alongside the old $24.2 billion figure.
3. An August 11, 2026 article. The Community Sentinel described the late 2030s as the opening horizon for the originally studied Alternative 5.
4. Metro itself. The schedule and opening year "are being updated," with more information promised in the Recirculated Draft EIR.

The funding works the same way. Measure M set aside $2.54 billion in 2015 dollars and Measure R about $1 billion. Metro expects to need federal, state, and local money beyond that, and possibly private financing through a public-private partnership. Metro's FAQ is direct about what a P3 is: "It is not free money, but rather a new funding source that requires repayment in the future." To match spending to available funds, Metro now plans to build an Initial Operating Segment first, between the D Line and the G Line. That segment would include the Ventura/Van Nuys stop. Metro says cost estimates and construction schedules are being updated with a focus on delivering it.

The parties also disagree about the schedule. Metro says the recirculated EIR "is not anticipated to delay the overall STCP project schedule" because it runs alongside the federal environmental review. In its May 2026 update, SOHA pointed out that the Regional Connector's recirculated EIR in 2011 delayed that project by more than twelve months.

Reading East Sherman Oaks Before the Map Exists

For now, the station's location tells a buyer roughly where the transit changes will land. It doesn't tell them how any particular lot is affected. Metro forecasts the busiest stretch of the line, its peak load point, south of Ventura Boulevard. The station blocks around Ventura and Van Nuys are where surface construction, entrances, and any parking-permit discussions would be concentrated. Residential streets farther from the corner may sit over tunnel or nowhere near it, and the published material can't say which.

Some of this can already be checked on Metro's public record. The 2025 Draft EIR drew more than 8,000 comments, and Metro held spring 2026 update meetings on the selected plan in Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Westwood, and Culver City, with materials and recordings posted on the project site. SOHA keeps a running transit page covering the project from the neighborhood's side. The 2027 document is the one that turns "near the line" into specific parcels.

FAQ

Will the train run under Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks? Not under the plan selected in January 2026. The Valley route runs under Van Nuys Boulevard, and the Sherman Oaks stop is at Ventura/Van Nuys.

Can I find out today whether a specific house sits above the tunnel? Not from Metro's published materials. Metro says it will identify the properties the route passes under in the Recirculated Draft EIR, which it expects in 2027.

Is there a Getty Center station? No. Metro says a Getty stop would require an indirect route, and the Getty station had the lowest projected ridership of any station studied.

If you're weighing a home near Ventura and Van Nuys, or planning to sell one before the 2027 map comes out, Arthur Aslanian can walk you through what Metro has published so far and how it applies to your street. Ask about a complimentary staging consultation and market valuation, prepared with the Sepulveda Corridor timeline in mind.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.