Laguna Hills Mall Owner Plans Major Renovation : Retailing: One department store will be added to the center, built in the 1970s. Old Buffum’s space will house The Limited’s stores.

The company that owns Laguna Hills Mall will soon begin a multimillion-dollar renovation of the 70-acre regional shopping center that was built during the 1970s.

The remodeling, which is expected to draw a number of new retailers, will be completed by the fall of 1994, mall Manager Jonathan Alpert said at a press conference Thursday.

O’Connor Group in New York, which owns the mall, also said it has put on hold a previously announced plan to add a building that would house a major department store. A company spokesman blamed “outside forces” for the change in plans.

The company’s original plan, unveiled in 1990, called for the addition of two department stores, a second level of general retail space and two new parking structures. The expansion would have added 580,792 square feet to the mall, which now has 810,000 square feet.

In late 1992, as national retail chains scaled back in response to the slow national economy, O’Connor Group decided to settle for just one new department store. Company officials said Thursday that they have yet to line up a tenant for that planned addition.

O’Connor Group won’t say how much it will spend on the renovation--”a lot,” Alpert said.

The mall’s common areas will be remodeled, and a food court will be added, he said. The mall has also initiated an “aggressive” effort to attract national retail tenants, he said.

O’Connor Group will turn Buffum’s vacant two-story building into a cluster of shops. The first floor will house several retail stores operated by The Limited, the Columbus, Ohio, retailer best known for The Limited and Victoria’s Secret stores. The second floor will house a record store and a large book retailer.