Buena Park Mall Nearing Last Stages in $70M Makeover
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
Buena Park Mall,once left for dead in the county’s changing retail landscape,is entering the final stages of a five-year, $70 million makeover.
The 41-year-old mall has been renamed Buena Park Downtown and lured some big tenants, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kohl’s Corp. An 18-screen Krikorian Premier Theaters complex is set to open early next year in a spot snatched from struggling Newport Beach-based Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. (See related story, page 5.)
The renovation hasn’t been without tussles or haggling by the city. Wal-Mart signed on only after the city threatened to take over a former Fedco store to make way for the discount retailer. In 1999, rival Target Corp. bought de-funct Fedco Inc. and until January held firm on a restriction that kept Wal-Mart and other large discounters away from the site.
A 175,000-square-foot Wal-Mart is set to open this fall at the mall. Last fall, the city paid $3.2 million to take over the Fedco lease and transferred it to Wal-Mart, which is expected to generate about $600,000 yearly in sales tax for the city.
The moves may have some wondering if saving the mall is worth the effort,and the tax dollars. The city also plans to issue bonds for some upgrades and share sales tax with the mall’s owner, Chic-ago’s Sunrise Buena Park LP.
The city contends its investment is worth it.
“It’s a huge economic engine for our city,” said May Wong Hui, Buena Park’s economic development director and deputy executive director of the city’s redevelopment agency.
The mall faces newer and more entrenched rivals all around it. Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc.’s Brea Mall is North County’s dominate retail center. Costa Mesa-based Donahue Schriber’s Anaheim Plaza underwent its own renovation in the 1990s. And Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Realty Corp. recently opened the smaller but flashy Amerige Heights Town Center in Fullerton.
“The previous owners had neglected doing any kind of upgrade of the mall,” Buena Park’s Hui said. “It was getting older. New malls were being built around us.”
In 1995, Sunrise Buena Park, a partnership controlled by Chicago’s ultra-rich Pritzker family, bought the mall for $41 million from Australia’s City Freeholds Inc. Before selling, City Freehold looked for a partner to help spruce up the mall.
Los Angeles-based Festival Cos., the mall’s developer and manager, has been working on remodeling since 1997. The first phase of the project saw upgrades to the mall’s outside and interior design. The second phase includes the building of a 150,000-square-foot entertainment center including movie theaters and restaurants.
“It’s a downtown venue we’re creating,a place for families to go, and for people to assemble,” said Karen E. Kennedy, senior vice president of Festival Commercial Real Estate Services, the Festival arm managing and developing the mall. “It is the retail hub of Buena Park and for that general area.”
The mall is set in a largely working-class, Hispanic-heavy area near the Anaheim border, not far from Knott’s Berry Farm.
Festival would never “presume to change the demographics,” Kennedy said. But “the draw is from a much greater area than had previously been drawn from,” she said.
“We believe in that trade area as do the retailers,” Kennedy said. “That’s why they are coming.”
The makeover also covers Park Place, a shopping center across the street from the mall that’s set to be anchored by a Kohl’s department store. Construction on the 85,000-square-foot building is slated to begin this year with a 2003 opening.
Work on the Wal-Mart is set to start this month. The retailer is set to join Burlington Coat Factory, Sears, Old Navy and Bed Bath & Beyond at the mall.
Also on tap are a DSW Shoe Warehouse, set to open a 25,000-square-foot mall store by the holidays, and a Fresh Choice self-service restaurant expected to open in the fall.
The 85,000-square-foot Krikorian theater is slated for an area formerly occupied by J.C. Penney’s (demolition of the store started in January). The first phase of the entertainment center is slated to open a year from now. The area’s plan also calls for restaurants and specialty shops.
The center is in final talks with several other undisclosed “major retailers,” according to Festival’s Kennedy.
