MISSION VIEJO : Mall Planned for Site Near Freeway

After dropping plans for an auto mall on a prime site near Interstate 5, a developer is now asking the city for permission to build a 289,950-square-foot outdoor shopping mall.

The site plans submitted Wednesday to city planners ended months of speculation in the community over what might be built on the 49-acre site.

“This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity in this area to take advantage of a high-volume freeway site,” said Mission Viejo Co. spokeswoman Wendy Wetzel, who said the proposed shopping mall would be called the Mission Viejo Freeway Center. “There aren’t too many sites of this kind left.”

The mall complex is proposed for a site just south of Oso Parkway, between Cabot Road and Interstate 5. The plan will be reviewed by city staff and a public hearing will be scheduled in September.

City officials say the open-air retail center could mean millions of dollars in sales tax revenue for Mission Viejo.

“It’s going to be like a Tustin Marketplace South,” said City Councilman Joseph D. Lowe, referring to the Tustin Marketplace, a 759,000-square-foot, open-air shopping center. “There should be high-volume discount stores going in here and we ought to see a high return” in sales tax revenue.

Lowe said the shopping plaza will be a “power center,” an industry term for malls featuring wholesale-retail stores that attract discount shoppers.

For example, the Tustin Marketplace blends such stores as clothing discounter T.J. Maxx and IKEA, a furniture outlet, with entertainment and food franchises.

City officials say the Mission Viejo Freeway Center has a similar concept.

Site plans show six buildings ranging from 25,000 to 45,000 square feet that would fit a retailer such as T.J. Maxx, but is not quite large enough a discount department store, said City Manager Fred Sorsabal. The plan also includes four restaurants, three retail buildings between 13,000 and 19,750 square feet, a car wash and an auto service center.

Earlier this year, the Mission Viejo Co. had spoken with auto dealers about establishing an auto mall on the property. However, city officials said the developer’s asking price was too high.

The site is also part of Mission Viejo’s redevelopment area. When the land is fully developed, boosting property taxes, Mission Viejo can use part of the increase to pay for improvements on the mall to attract more customers.

Sorsabal said the city would consider investing redevelopment funds in the Mission Viejo Freeway Center if the mall is approved.

The site also has been the center of controversy between Mission Viejo and the city of Laguna Hills, which is across the street from the proposed retail center.

Looking for a voice in the development of the site, Laguna Hills officials protested the project at a Public Utilities Commission hearing last year. The city of Mission Viejo and the Mission Viejo Co. responded by suing Laguna Hills for improperly attempting to block the development.

All parties settled earlier this year, with the Mission Viejo Co. agreeing not to let the project grow larger than 290,000 square feet and giving Laguna Hills an opportunity to review traffic mitigation measures.

Laguna Hills officials have not seen the site plans yet and could not comment on the proposed retail center.