Almquist Signs Nearly Two Dozen Tenants at OC Mall

Almquist has inked deals for nearly two dozen leases at its River Street Marketplace, a 60,000-square-foot outdoor mall in San Juan Capistrano.

The Torrance-based firm formerly known as Frontier Real Estate Investments expects the farmhouse-style mall will open this fall at 31825 Los Rios Street in South OC, the Orange County Register reported.

It replaces Ito Nursery, a 60-year-old family business that closed in 2021 in the Los Rios District, across the railroad tracks from the Capistrano Depot in what is billed as the oldest neighborhood on the oldest street in California.

A rendering of the outdoor mall at 31825 Los Rios Street (Bickel Group Architecture, Almquist)

The 5.9-acre outdoor retail and dining center, lined with native plants and water features, will include seven rural-themed buildings around a courtyard. It will have storefront shops, standalone restaurants and a barn-like Rodeo River Street food hall with 10 fast-casual tenants.

Dan Almquist, managing partner for Almquist, expects it to open in October or November and be fully occupied by spring 2024.

“We anticipate that 70 percent of the tenants will be ready to open by fall,” Almquist told the Register in a brief Q&A interview. “All the buildings are framed out with sidings. All buildings are technically built, just site work needs to be done now.”

New restaurant tenants include Bred’s Hot Chicken, Capistrano Brewing, Finca by David Pratt, La Vaquera, Gueros Cevicheria, The Meat Cellar Market and Steakhouse, Mendocino Farms, Nana’s Fish Chippery, Shootz Hawaiian and Ubuntu Café.

New retail tenants include Common Thread, a locally-owned womenswear boutique; Fermentation Farm, which sells sauerkraut, pickles, long-fermented sourdough bread, bone broths and kombucha; Free People, a women’s apparel shop; Hudson’s Cookies, a local bake shop; Kozan Teahouse & Boba; and Seager, a San Clemente clothing brand.

They also include SALT, an independent eyewear brand; Toes on the Nose, a family-owned and operated surf apparel company based in Laguna Beach; and Wildfire Mercantile, a boutique offering Western-style apparel and boots.

McConnell’s Ice Cream, a 70-year-old California ice cream brand known for making ice creams with local and organic ingredients sourced from local orchards and ranches, will open its first scoop shop at River Street.

— Dana Bartholomew