Expanding Mission Viejo Mall Learns Nordstrom Isn’t Coming

MISSION VIEJO —  Nordstrom won’t fill the spot, so the Mission Viejo Mall will have to find another department store for its expansion project.

“I’m very disappointed that Nordstrom is evidently not willing to come on board,” Mission Viejo City Manager Dan Joseph said Tuesday. The city is talking with DeBartolo Realty Corp., the mall owner, about helping to pay for the renovation.

“But the important thing is for the mall to move forward,” Joseph said. Whatever tenant is ultimately found “may not carry the Nordstrom’s name, but it will certainly bring a new aura to the mall.”

Industry and city sources said DeBartolo officials offered $25 million to the Seattle-based department store chain.

Company Co-President Peter Nordstrom said the problem was not in the offer, but “in the locations” of the Mission Viejo Mall and the Laguna Hills Mall, which has also courted Nordstrom.

“All the locations have their pluses and minuses,” he said. “We really told them that our decision was [to make] no decision.”

Rodney Haynes, vice president of development for DeBartolo, said the company should complete negotiations with another department store and come to the city with specific plans within 60 days.

The expansion will include a new department store building, installing skylights, replacing walkways and railings, and upgrading parking and landscaping. No cost figure has been given for the expansion and renovation.

The 999,390-square-foot Mission Viejo Mall has not seen any major changes since it was built in 1979. Haynes said he expects construction to begin early next year.