Orange Mall Plans to Add Major Stores

Attempting to tap northeast Orange County’s population boom, owners of the Mall of Orange have drawn up a $75-million expansion plan that would increase the mall’s size by more than 50% and add three department stores by 1989.

The plan to expand the 14-year-old mall from 466,000 square feet to 830,000 square feet is being proposed as an answer to the renovation projects of other county malls--such as Fashion Island in Newport Beach and The City in Orange.

“We feel we want to make the mall competitive,” said Harry Newman Jr., chairman of Newman Brettin Properties, majority owner and manager of the Mall of Orange.

Action on most of the expansion plans, Newman acknowledged, hinges on approval from the city as well as the mall’s major department store tenants--J. C. Penney, Sears, Roebuck & Co. and the Broadway. So far, he said, there doesn’t seem to be any opposition.

Newman said a demographic study found that the mall’s trade area--encompassing Anaheim Hills, Villa Park, Lemon Heights and Citrus Heights--has a faster-growing and more affluent population than the market areas of its competitors, including Santa Ana Fashion Square, Brea Mall, South Coast Plaza and The City.

To take advantage of these demographics, Newman said the mall is seeking more upscale tenants. Leases on 36 mall shops will expire in the next 18 months, and mall managers expect to replace some shops with retailers that can produce higher sales volume or cater to a wealthier shopper, Newman said.

Expansion will occur in two stages. The first phase, a 3.5-million renovation of the covered mall, with new storefronts and the addition of skylights, is to begin in 90 days.

The first stage plan also calls for addition of 21,000 square feet of space for two restaurants and a financial institution in the southeast corner of the mall. That section is scheduled to open early next year.

The final segment of the Phase One plan calls for adding 15 shops and 20,000 square feet of space to the mall by 1987.

The second phase calls for construction of a 2,000-space parking garage and a two-level, 125,000-square-foot addition to house 60 additional small shops.

Newman said his firm is completing negotiations with an undisclosed retail chain to add another major department store to the mall in 1987. He said his firm is in “preliminary negotiations” to find more upscale retail chains willing to open two additional major department stores at the mall in 1989.