Santa Ana’s I. Magnin Sells Lease, Closes

The 19-year-old I. Magnin destore in Santa Ana Fashion Square closed Saturday following an announcement that the department store lease was bought for an undisclosed price by a development group that has embarked on a $250-million redevelopment and expansion project that includes the building.

I. Magnin officials were uncertain Friday of how many of the store’s 28 employees would be laid off. But they said some of the sales support staff would be transferred to the company’s only other Orange County store in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza.

Before the buy-out, I. Magnin’s lease on the 30,000-square-foot Santa Ana building was scheduled to expire Jan. 31, 1990, according to Bob Little, western regional vice president of development for JMB/Federated.

A Cincinnati-based retail development firm, JMB/Federated has joined with Fashion Square Ventures, a partnership led by Costa Mesa developer Henry Segerstrom, on a 12-year plan to expand and renovate the 28-year-old Santa Ana mall and add up to 1.5 million square feet of office space as well as hotels. The mixed-use project has been named MainPlace/Santa Ana.

Little said that the developers are negotiating for new tenants to fill the vacated I. Magnin store after the building is reconfigured. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy next September to coincide with completion of the mall renovation. Also, new Nordstrom and J. W. Robinson’s department stores are under construction.

Elaine MacNeil, Southern California regional vice president for I. Magnin, said the 25-outlet department store chain decided to sell the lease in Santa Ana “because we feel in our long-range plan that we need stores that are 60,000 square feet.” By contrast, she said the Santa Ana store had only about 20,000 square feet of useable sales space.