City Gives Final OK to Major Expansion Plan for Brea Mall

The Brea City Council gave final approval Monday to a $120-million expansion at Brea Mall that city officials hope will restore the mall’s position as a major regional shopping attraction.

Plans to expand and renovate the 10-year-old mall have been in the works for more than five years and construction is already under way on a new Nordstrom store. Monday’s action clears the way for two more major department stores, four new parking garages that will add more than 4,000 slots and an interior renovation.

The owners expect the expansion to increase the center by 60% and to double annual sales to almost $400 million, making it one of the biggest shopping centers in the county, second only to South Coast Plaza in gross sales.

“We expect that it will become a very modern shopping facility that will restore its strong competitive position as a regional center,” City Manager Ed Wohlenberg said.

A major feature of the project, he said, will be the multimillion-dollar face-lift with which mall owners hope to lure back north county shoppers who have migrated to South Coast Plaza, Fashion Island at Newport Center and MainPlace/Santa Ana--shopping centers that city and mall officials in Brea concede have more attractive facades and design flare.

A spokesman for New York-based Corporate Property Investers, which owns the mall, said the mall will serve shoppers in the $40,000-yearly income range who are expected to come from north Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Placentia, Pomona and Diamond Bar.

Mall General Manager James Charter said the four-year expansion project will include a new 150,000-square-foot Robinson’s store and one other major retailer, which has yet to be announced. The other new tenant is believed to be Bullock’s, but mall officials would not confirm that.

The Nordstrom store, which now occupies about 95,000 square feet of space, will move into a new 180,000-square-foot facility. Its previous space will house 75 new specialty shops. Three other major department stores are now in the mall--The Broadway, Sears and May Co.--as well as 140 specialty shops.

Officials said they hope the mall’s design by a Dallas architectural firm will transform the building’s appearance. Plans include a mission-style look for the building’s exterior and parking garages, which will feature clay tile roofs and stucco archways.

Store fronts will be remodeled with glass, marble and stone. A huge glass dome will cap an indoor plaza lined with potted palms and white columns. Off-white marble will replace the present inlaid brick floors and carpeting. Extensive exterior landscaping is also planned.

Charter said renovation of the mall and construction work on the new parking facilities should begin after the first of the year, with a construction start for the new Robinson’s coming in September, 1988.

Construction of the sixth department store and more specialty stores should be completed by spring 1991, he added.