After serving for a long time as a neighborhood hub and standard procuring heart, the Westminster Mall in Orange County is preparing to shut its doorways.
Most of the retailers in the mall will shut down on Oct. 29 when leases expire, according to Westminster City Manager Christine Cordon. The City Council permitted a redevelopment plan in 2022 to flip the mall into a mixed-use website for housing, leisure and retail.
The 100-acre property, located on the south aspect of the 405 Freeway, could quickly supply 3,000 housing items and at least 600,000 sq. toes of upscale retail house.
The metropolis’s Westminster Mall Specific Plan also units apart more than 9 acres for parks and recreation.
“The community has expressed a strong desire to revitalize this important commercial center,” the redevelopment plan says. “The project site provides a unique opportunity to reposition the mall into the thriving activity center that it once was and to accommodate the future growth of the city.”
Community members gathered last week to say their goodbyes to the mall, which already has shuttered shops and empty parking heaps. According to the mall’s on-line listing, standard retailers such as Victoria’s Secret, Vans and Kay Jewelers are still open.
JCPenney, the mall’s oldest anchor retailer, is slated to shut by Nov. 21. Best Buy and Target are expected to stay open for a few more years as the property undergoes redevelopment.
Alexis Malatesta, who frequented the mall as a teenager and now runs a Westminster Mall fan account on Instagram, hosted a farewell karaoke celebration at the mall on Friday.
She posted movies of the gathering, where several neighborhood members came to reminisce and sing songs in the mall’s honor.
Malatesta’s Instagram says it’s “a page dedicated solely to the Westminster Mall’s battle with terminal illness,” referencing the mall’s lengthy, rocky fall from its prime.
In 1986, the mall was Orange County’s second-highest-grossing retail heart. The next 12 months, the mall announced a large renovation plan.
In its heyday, the mall was a gathering spot when there were few other locations to cling out. It was where youngsters discovered the newest fashions and where “mall rats” roamed in packs after faculty.
Malatesta, who grew up in Huntington Beach, said she spent numerous afternoons at the mall in the early 2000s, driving the carousel and snapping digital images. As the mall fell into disrepair, she posted stunts on social media to strive to generate enterprise, including a pretend marriage ceremony ceremony to declare her marriage to the mall.
“I wanted to get people to go enjoy the space while it was still there,” she said in an interview. “The Westminster Mall was a huge part of my childhood and I’ve met a ton of people through our shared obsession with the mall.”
The Westminster Mall opened in 1974 on the former website of the world’s largest goldfish farm, according to metropolis paperwork.
It underwent main renovations in the Eighties and in 2008, and is now managed by 4 corporations that share possession of the property: Kaiser Permanente, Shopoff Realty, True Life Cos. and Washington Prime Group.
True Life, a Denver-based actual property agency, has obtained permission from the metropolis to construct a five-story, multifamily housing construction on the 3.6 acres that was beforehand occupied by Babies R Us.
Because of a pending settlement between the 4 corporations, a demolition date for the mall has not been set.
Though the metropolis has bold redevelopment plans, the Westminster Mall will lose its nostalgic worth for Malatesta, now 33 years outdated.
“You can go into an indoor mall and you can forget about the outside world,” Malatesta said. “Westminster Mall was my spot.”
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