For much of its recent history, the success of the Buena Park Downtown mall has been punctuated by a series of hits and misses.
But mostly misses.
First, a few of the hits: Portillo’s Hot Dogs, Wal-Mart, Steve & Barry’s, 24 Hour Fitness.
Coup: John’s Incredible Pizza. The company is opening a 55,000-square-foot entertainment center and restaurant in 2009. High hopes are pinned on John’s to bring excitement to the mall, which has about 15 tenants in lease negotiations and six more to be announced, said Cyndi Taylor, general manager.
“I think everybody sees the potential,” she said.
But she readily admits, there have been a lot of misses that need to be overcome.
Opening in 1961 as the Buena Park Mall, the mall thrived through the 1980s. It began to languish in the 1990s with outdated tenants and competition as rival malls, such as Brea Mall, were building and expanding.
In 1996, Festival Cos. began a $90 million makeover on the mall, finishing in 2003. Following the makeover, current owner, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty Corp. bought the mall in 2004 from Chicago’s Pritzker family for $91 million.
It is the 20th largest mall in Orange County with sales of $123 million and 1.1 million square feet of space to lease, according to the Business Journal’s most recent list of shopping centers. Other malls its size, such as Westminster Mall and Westfield Group’s MainPlace, have more than double the sales of Buena Park Downtown.
Despite the makeover, the mall hasn’t been able to gain traction.
The city of Buena Park has stepped up the pressure on the mall in hopes of speeding up the leasing process.
“The city is concerned with the vacancy rate in the entertainment area,” said Rick Warsinski, city manager. “It’s been vacant for so long.”
Buena Park has its own vision for its “E-Zone,” an area that includes the mall, Knott’s Berry Farm, Medieval Times and the closed Movieland Wax Museum. The city even bought a few hotels, and closed them, to build something in line with its vision.
“The success of the mall is very important to us,” Warsinski said.
Empty Space
Many of the windows at the mall’s outdoor entertainment plaza have a “space available” sign. The spaces that are for lease are “raw,” in need of electrical wiring and other innards, Taylor said.
Taylor lays blame for the ailing mall on the unattractive lower level, which used to be a truck service tunnel for Sears.
“It’s not warm and inviting,” Taylor said.
It has low ceilings and it doesn’t help that they’re painted black.
When national tenants scout sites they look at the whole mall, Taylor said. If they walk the desolate lower level, which now has a few eateries and shops, they’re not likely to be anxious to sign up, she said. Redevelopment has to start from the bottom up, she said, which is where John’s comes in.
John’s is expected to draw large crowds with its carnival rides and arcade games. John’s will also improve the visual aspects of the mall. Its roller coaster will rise up through the food court area to the top floor, where shoppers will be able to see it.
The lower level will still need a tenant or two in addition to John’s. Getting other tenants to the lower level will be a challenge because customers can’t walk between John’s and the other stores, Taylor said.
“So where’s the synergy?” she said.
The mall proposed offices on the lower level for a workers’ compensation court, which would’ve drawn hundreds of people a day to the mall, Taylor said. But the city nixed that idea because it didn’t see it as a good fit.
Other obstacles that will have to be worked out include raising the lower level roof and other structural aspects of accommodating John’s.
Lower-level food court tenants that stay will move to the outside entertainment plaza, which will be the new food court. More seating will be added outdoors. The Busy Bee, an Asian eatery, which has been at the mall for decades, is popular and Taylor hopes it will stay and move to another part of the mall.
Portillo’s has been doing well, but because it’s in the parking lot and not in the mall, it doesn’t drive other food court business, Taylor said.
Making way for John’s, stores on the lower level that plan to stay will move to the second floor, where there are several spaces for lease. Some of those staying are the Scrub Shoppe, which sells healthcare workers’ uniforms, and the Kool Nail Spa Hair shop.
The Christian Book & Gift store, which used to be successful on the lower level, recently opened on the top floor in a former storage space.
Tower Records was signed up to move in but it went through bankruptcy and now the space is leased temporarily to a Halloween store. Steve & Barry’s recently expanded to both levels.
New Stores
Steve & Barry’s, along with 24-Hour Fitness, which replaced Burlington Coat Factory, arrived at the mall in 2006. Pacific Sunwear of California Inc.’s opened a PacSun store this year. The mall is anchored by Bed, Bath & Beyond, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Ross Dress For Less, Sears and Wal-Mart.
The mall will always have mom-and-pop and regional niche stores such as the Scrub Shoppe, and Bonita Bridal store, which points to the diversity of the shopper at the mall. There are a large number of Hispanic shoppers, Asians and a pocket of affluent shoppers, Taylor said.
The mall also sees quite a number of tourists given its proximity to Knott’s Berry Farm.
“It’s challenging to be everything to everyone,” she said.
Another drag on the mall is Sears, according to Taylor.
Sears owns its building, the land and a hunk of the surrounding parking area, so it’s been difficult for Developers Diversified Realty to get Sears interested in remodeling or selling.
But change is happening with John’s and other new tenants, she said.
“It’s a beginning.”
