New plans are under consideration to revitalize portions of Anaheim’s long-beleaguered GardenWalk shopping center, including accommodations that would serve a much different tourism base than the recently opened JW Marriott Anaheim hotel on the property’s grounds.
Proposals recently submitted to the city come about two years after an affiliate of Whittier’s STC Management bought the shopping center near Disneyland for $80 million. STC is the third owner of the center since its 2008 opening.
The owner, which operates the center under the STC GardenWalk name, told the Business Journal at the time of the purchase it intended to invest in major upgrades for the center and bring on new tenants.
Those plans are now moving forward, and include several unique ideas for the 466,417-square-foot dining, entertainment and retail center that could also represent a few firsts for the area.
Notable proposals include a pod-style hostel for more economically minded travelers, new banquet facilities for weddings and other events, numerous food and drinking options, and what would be North OC’s first “cat café.”
“Ever since we took over ownership, we wanted to brand GardenWalk in a unique way, creating a special niche entertainment hub that serves as a complement to Disneyland,” STC Management Chief Executive John Hsu told the Business Journal.
The owner’s plans are currently awaiting city approvals.
Space Pods
As part of the proposals, GardenWalk could become home to Orange County’s first pod-style hostel, which would cater to younger and budget-conscious travelers.
The capsule hotel, popular in Japan, would include dormitory-style sleeping rooms with “shared or private bathroom facilities intended for occupancy on a commercial basis.”
The hostel could include about 20 beds to be designed like space capsules, Hsu notes, as part of a larger science and technology theme.
“We want it to serve an educational purpose for younger travelers or families, with new technology on display,” Hsu said. “It will be like sleeping inside of a space shuttle.”
The hostel would include common facilities “such as a kitchen, dining room, lounge, or recreation room,” city filings note.
A handful of similar facilities have been opened in L.A. in recent years by that city’s PodShare.
PodShare’s dorm-like locations, branded as “affordable co-living” spots, start around $50 a night.
No operator for the proposed Anaheim spot has been announced.
It’s a vastly different target audience than that of the JW Marriott, which last year became the city’s first 4-star hotel to open off the grounds of the Disneyland Resort. Rooms there now start about $200 a night.
That 466-room hotel was built by Orange-based Prospera Hotels and Anaheim-based O’Connell Hotel Group.
Cat Café
Another popular Japan concept could be coming to the GardenWalk, in the form of a cat café.
Not to be confused with the Spectrum Center’s popular Hello Kitty Café in Irvine, or a similarly-themed café in Laguna Beach, “9 Lives for Mew” is described as “a cat lounge with light food service.”
The planned 1,800-square-foot café has an operator in place that would work with a local cat rescue and adoption agency to house cats available for adoption in a cat lounge area separated from the food areas by a glass wall.
The operator also plans to hold cat-related special events available to the public and sell cat-themed merchandise.
Beer Garden, Banquet Hall
Other ideas envisioned to revitalize the center include a beer and wine garden and a banquet hall, among more conventional considerations.
Construction has already begun on the beer garden, which will also include a pet park, recording studio and artist gallery, Hsu notes.
Like the cat café, there is an operator in line to manage the proposed banquet hall, which it calls “STC Center.”
It would host conventions, weddings, performances, and other events.
The operator manages a similar facility in Rowland Heights, according to city filings.
STC Management said at the time of the late 2018 purchase that it operates about 60 commercial centers in Southern California. It estimated those properties are valued around $1.5 billion. Much of the company’s portfolio is in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, and many of those retail properties cater towards that area’s Asian demographic.
Development costs for the series of proposed additions at the GardenWalk were undisclosed, but are expected to run in the tens of millions, according to Hsu.
2021 Opening
GardenWalk’s 14.2-acre site is bookended on Katella Avenue by a number of restaurants that were performing well pre-pandemic, and a flagship House of Blues concert venue at its other end that opened in 2017.
The center’s interior has languished over the years, with large areas of vacancy and underutilized space spread among multiple levels.
The pandemic’s only exacerbated those issues. A Forbes report this month, discussing the impact of Disneyland’s closure on the immediate area, cited business owners at GardenWalk saying that sales were down by more than 80%.
Some of GardenWalk’s new additions could open as soon as this year, according to Hsu, who said the goal is to bring new options to the center in time for when Disneyland and other area attractions open again.
“We are creating an environment that you can’t find anywhere else [to] give people a reason to come to Anaheim, especially after such a challenging 2020,” Hsu said.
“We look forward to welcoming new visitors to the area.”
STC GardenWalk LLC bought the shopping center in part with a $36 million loan from a construction company in Taiwan. The $80 million purchase price marked a nearly 10% premium to its last sale in 2012, but is well below the estimated $280 million—or roughly $600 per square foot—construction cost of the center.
Tenants added by STC since taking over the center are reported to include UFC Fit, which replaced the now-shuttered 24 Hour Fitness; flight simulation center FlightDeck; and several food and beverage operators.
