Developer Regency Centers wanted to build more than just another strip mall in Brea—it envisioned a retail and dining hub that prompts nearby residents to abandon the comforts of online shopping and walk over for a bite or a drink with a neighbor. It also had to stand apart from the surrounding offerings, a plethora of middle-of-the-road chain stores and restaurants that often make one street corner look like the next.
Their solution—The Village at La Floresta, a $31 million, 88,000-square-foot center anchored by Whole Foods, along with some 20 smaller tenants, including Mendocino Farms Sandwich Market, Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern and CorePower Yoga. It held its grand opening April 9 with about 90% of the space leased.
“The previous plan called for a much larger, denser center,” said John Mehigan, Regency’s senior vice president. “We thought, ‘We have this powerhouse right down the street, on Kraemer (Boulevard) and Imperial (Highway), over 1 million square feet of retail right there.’ We didn’t want to do more of the same, because we didn’t think we’d be successful, and we also thought that income levels in Brea don’t match some of the shopping options provided. For instance, the grocery store choices here [were] Albertsons, Stater Bros. and Walmart, and besides Trader Joe’s, there [was] no gourmet grocery store in this market—no Gelson’s or Bristol Farms. The closest Whole Foods [was] 15 miles away in Tustin, and we found from talking to people that they drive there to get groceries, which to us, being an owner of neighborhood shopping centers—that just doesn’t happen. They must really want it.”
Whole Foods was “somewhat skeptical at first,” Mehigan said, but they also realized that there was a gap. An opportunity to back up to an amphitheater-styled seating area featuring a wind-activated sculpture by artist Doug Hollis sealed the deal.
Regency owns and operates 11 other shopping centers in Orange County, including Heritage Plaza in Irvine and Amerige Heights Town Center in Fullerton.
Festival to Watch
The Newport Beach Film Festival is spreading the word about its upcoming offering with an ad campaign titled “We’re Being Watched.”
At the center of the campaign, as in previous years, is a short film “that takes the audience through an experience, characterized by a constant change in perspective and size—revealing stories within stories.” It was created by RPA in Santa Monica, which also developed outdoor advertising and print ads running in the Los Angeles Times, OC Weekly and Variety.
“We’re Being Watched communicates how real life informs what happens on screen and vice-versa, as film is an exercise in capturing the human experience and the boundaries of human imagination,” said the agency’s co-founder and Director of Marketing Todd Quartararo in a statement. “There is a fantastic opportunity to reimagine how we perceive reality and our traditional expectation of the way it unfolds before us.”
The festival, scheduled for April 21 to 28, will screen more than 350 films from some 40 countries for an anticipated audience of 55,000. It will kick off with a world premiere of the film “After The Reality” at Edwards Big Newport, followed by an opening-night gala at Fashion Island featuring a live performance from Kà by Cirque du Soleil.
TBWAWorldHealth to OC
Irvine will be among three new locations for TBWAWorldHealth, an agency formed after the Omnicom Health Group combined two of its healthcare agencies, LLNS and Irvine-based Corbett.
“Healthcare is transforming before our eyes, and it’s ripe for an agency that has a confident point of view about how to communicate around 21st century healthcare,” Omnicom’s Chief Executive Ed Wise said in a statement. “TBWAWorldHealth enhances Omnicom Health Group’s ability to serve this dynamic marketplace. The addition of this world-class global network reinforces why we’re the largest, most complete communications group in the world dedicated to health and well-being.”
TBWAWorldHealth will use Corbett’s office in Irvine.
