If you’re out for a day of leisurely shopping, you’ll likely think Fashion Island, South Coast Plaza or Irvine Spectrum Center.
But if you need to buy that big-screen TV for the weekend, you might head to The Market Place.
The sprawling, eclectic outdoor mall, which opened in Tustin in 1988, since has stretched to the other side of Jamboree Road in Irvine.
Still referred to by many people as the Tustin Market Place, the mall is home to big-name retailers, including Target and Best Buy.
Think function more than fashion.
“The Tustin Market Place is for destination shoppers,” said Bruce Heathcote, a senior vice president for real estate brokerage Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. “People don’t go there to spend the day. That’s the nature of its success.”
The Market Place is the third largest mall in Orange County after South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island with $565 million in yearly sales, according to the Business Journal’s annual list.
It has 1.6 million square feet of space for lease and 124 stores. The Irvine Company, which owns and runs The Market Place, opened the first phase of the 165-acre mall in 1988.
Competition
Now The Market Place is getting some close competition, which stands to test the county’s appetite for more shopping. The District at Tustin Legacy, a 1 million-square-foot, 111-acre center, is under way at the former Tustin Marine base, just a short drive from The Market Place.
The District already has opened a Target, Costco, PetSmart and TJ Maxx/Home Goods. Whole Foods Market, set to open soon, is likely to be a big draw.
The new mall is set to have its own captive market with some 4,500 homes also going up at the former base now and in coming years.
Other housing projects, including condominium towers, are popping up along Jamboree Road, Michelson Drive and elsewhere in Irvine and Tustin.
But could there be a glut of stores?
The District could have some challenges attracting people beyond those who live on the former base, according to Heathcote.
“Everyone has to drive past shopping to get to The District,” he said.
Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co., which is developing the mall with New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Kimco Realty Corp., isn’t put off.
OC is “one of the strongest retail climates in the nation in terms of per capita spending,” said Jeff Axtell, project manager for Vestar (see story, page 21).
Irvine Co. officials say they’re not distracted.
“We remain aware of the competition,” said Nina Robinson, vice president of marketing for The Irvine Co.’s shopping centers. “But you have to keep your eye on the ball, stick with your core and who your are.”
Sales at both malls this year could be tempered by the slowed housing market, putting a pinch on sales at home stores. The Market Place has several, including Jennifer Convertibles, Levitz Home Furniture and Linens-N-Things.
The Market Place brings in about $3.4 million in sales taxes for the city of Tustin, accounting for about 8% of its budget. Tustin has about 47% of the mall, or 757,000 square feet.
The city of Irvine doesn’t break out revenue by mall, but The Market Place accounts for an estimated $5 million of the city’s projected yearly revenue of $58 million.
The Market Place is 99% full. About the only vacancy is the former Tower Records store. The music chain shuttered its stores last year.
The District is expected to generate $6.7 million, or about 11% of Tustin’s yearly budget once it’s finished later this year, said Lisa Woolery, a Tustin spokeswoman.
The Market Place has grown as homes and businesses have expanded along the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway have grown. It draws well-off residents from Irvine neighborhoods such as Westpark and Northwood, as well as nearby office workers.
In 1996, the mall spilled into Irvine with an additional 420,000 square feet of stores and an Edwards theater. Then in 1999, it added 420,000 square feet in Irvine, which included Target and Lowe’s.
“We always assumed we’d be on both sides of Jamboree Road,” said Keith Eyrich, president of the Irvine Co.’s retail properties division. “What we do depends on demand and success in early phases.”
The Market Place is a distinct mall,it’s made up of a series of large, bold, colorful buildings and signs. The layout is sprawling with stores lined in a row stretching along Jamboree. It’s not a strolling mall,it’s easier to drive from some stores to another.
The Market Place has both a Chick’s Sporting Goods and a Sports Authority. The upscale Opah Restaurant & Bar coexists with In-N-Out Burger. There are two movie theaters,one in Irvine, the other in Tustin.
Spanning two cities doesn’t come into play much, according to Eyrich. But there are quirks. For one, Irvine is promoting the city with banners that appear only on one side of the street.
The Market Place was meant to be original from the get go. Mexico City architect Ricardo Legorreta was sought out to design it. The outlying big stores serve as anchors,and often-directional landmarks,to the village of stores and eateries within the mall.
“This is not a place where just any architecture would work,” Eyrich said. “The scale of this center is really heroic.”
Legorreta set out to build an “urban sculpture” using symmetry and consistent design throughout the mall. This may be Legorreta’s only OC project.
The architecture caused a stir in its early years,big boxes with bright purple and pink accents.
“It was different than anything anyone had seen,” Eyrich said.
Even tenants had to be convinced of its charm, he said.
Taco Rosa’s Case
Now, tenants don’t give it much thought.
“We love it,” said Ren & #233; Fuentes, partner of the new Taco Rosa restaurant there. “We felt that this is the area that’s going to be booming.”
On a recent Friday during lunch, the restaurant was packed.
“It’s beyond our expectations,” he said.
The restaurant expects to have about $3 million in sales at the mall, compared to its first Taco Rosa in Newport Hills Center, which did $2 million last year.
The Irvine Co. has one person who heads restaurant leases for all its centers and a leasing director for each of its bigger malls.
As space comes available, The Market Place plans to add more upscale restaurants, Eyrich said. The ones already there have done well, he said.
The trick to leasing is having the best stores, Eyrich said.
“Recognizing them and getting them in,” he said, “it addresses the artistic part of what we do.”
