Shopoff plans to add 1,200 homes to Westminster Mall

Shopoff Realty Investments aims to build nearly 1,200 homes at an urban retail village around the Westminster Mall.

The Irvine-based developer unveiled plans to redevelop 26 acres on either side of the indoor mall at 1025 Westminster Mall, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. It would replace a Macy’s store and a shuttered Sears.

Shopoff bought the now-vacant former Sears department store at the Orange County mall in July for $46.3 million. 

It now wants to revamp the 49-year-old shopping center along the 405 Freeway and Bolsa Avenue and Edwards Street. The 90-acre Westminster Mall, built in 1974, includes 1.3 million square feet of retail space anchored by Target, JCPenny and Macy’s.

The development, known as Bolsa Pacific at Westminster, would include three, six-story apartment buildings with 1,065 residential units, plus 102 townhomes. 

Plans also call for a 175-room hotel and 25,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants, including a food hall.

The project would include a 2.5-acre park, with paths and connections to regional bicycle trails. Plans also call for an amphitheater, outdoor dining areas, a dog park and a garden.

“Together with the City of Westminster, we are envisioning a vibrant center where housing, hospitality, retail and nature come together,” said Shopoff Realty CEO William Shopoff in a statement. 

The Bolsa Pacific, designed by Orange-based AO, would include contemporary apartments in white and gray, with inset balconies. The park and grounds would be designed by MJS Landscape Architecture, based in Newport Beach.

Pending approvals, Shopoff aims to break ground in 2025.

The mall makeover is the latest example of retail changes in the age of online shopping.

Simon Property Group aims to replace a former Sears complex at the Brea Mall with a 380-unit urban-retail village.

DJM, owner of the Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach, has secured approvals to add more than 300 apartments. 

Related Companies has announced plans for an even bigger project at the Metro Town Square Mall in Santa Ana, a 42-acre mixed-use complex with more than 4,000 homes, a hotel, plus more shops and restaurants.

Shopoff Realty Investments, founded by Shopoff in 1992, has a portfolio of 33 properties, mostly in California, with some in Nevada, Texas, New Mexico and Midwestern states, according to its website.

In December 2021, it acquired land for a master-planned development with up to 3,650 residential units and 250,000 square feet of commercial space in the Inland Empire. It also plans to build two warehouses totaling 1.8 million square feet in Riverside County.

— Dana Bartholomew