ORANGE — Once a bustling Best Buy, the big-box electronics store on Tustin Street near Walmart has remained empty for two years—another casualty of the retail apocalypse.
For residents like Reggie Mundekis, the empty 45,700-square-foot store represents a missed opportunity for a struggling city looking to attract businesses and new residents.
“We can’t let unused property sit there and be vacant for years, going on decades,” she told the City Council in May. “It’s not good for the community.”
City of Orange officials agreed.
The council in late May voted 6-1 to greenlight a redevelopment plan by Irvine-based Melia Homes that will transform the vacant 4.23-acre commercial lot into a residential community of 71 three-story, single-family “small-lot” homes. The council officially adopted the plan earlier this month.
“Thank you for wanting to invest in the city of Orange,” Mayor Dan Slater said during the council meeting. “We have been preaching that we are open for business. And this project to me says, ‘Yes, we are open for business,’ and I think by approving it that puts an exclamation point on that.”
Chad Brown, vice president of community development at Melia Homes, told the city council that the site has not been used to its full potential for years. He said this project is a way to bring more homeowners to the area.
“That’s what attracted us to the site,” he told the council in May.
Melia Homes President Tim McSunas told the Business Journal that redeveloping infill development like this and converting underperforming retail into housing “is exactly how we believe Orange County can address its housing needs without impacting open space or overburdening infrastructure.”
“We’re excited about what this project means for the community and look forward to breaking ground soon,” he said.
Melia Homes’ Plan
The homebuilder plans to tear down the empty 45,676-square-foot building and redevelop the site with 71 homes, including 58 duplexes and 13 detached homes, all in three-story buildings up to 35 feet tall.
City documents show that the project will include 6,031 square feet of shared open space, 179 parking spaces and 30,309 square feet of landscaping.
Some residents were concerned about the height of the new townhomes, which would be much taller than the nearby single-story buildings. The site is surrounded by single-story condominiums to the north and by single-story condos and mobile homes to the south.
Brown, representing Melia Homes, told the council that they changed the plans to address neighbors’ privacy concerns.
Private roof decks will be available only in the interior home clusters, while homes along the edges will have 10-foot rear yards instead. They also reduced the size of second-floor windows, and some third-story rear bedroom windows along the north and south property lines will use frosted glass.
The city staff report says the final approved plan has strict rules to protect neighbors’ privacy.
Rezoning the Site
The approval of Melia Homes’ residential development highlights how cities are grappling with empty big-box properties. Cities like Westminster, Brea and Santa Ana have already begun transforming their former retail sites into housing.
Orange Mayor Pro Tem Denis Bilodeau said he had met with the site’s owner, Burnham USA, and made it clear he would not agree to rezone the property unless they made a “good faith effort” to find another tenant or reuse the site for commercial purposes.
City staff told Bilodeau that they’ve also sent out letters marketing the site to prospective commercial tenants to no avail.
Bilodeau said the property was a “victim of the retail environment. We go online [shopping] now for convenience.”
MMcSunas said that the company is acquiring the land from Burnham.
“We’re not in a position to share project cost or additional transaction details at this time,” he said, adding they plan to break ground later this year.
Slater, a well-known real estate agent in the city, also said the site is a better fit for housing because it is surrounded by condominiums and other residential homes.
Before Best Buy, the space was home to a bowling alley that had “burned down and rebuilt” and never made it. Best Buy also saw competition internally, as it has another location about 10 minutes away near The Outlets at Orange.
“We need to move the city forward,” Slater said. “We need to think differently, and we need to think big. This is quality housing.”
