Loooking at Orange County’s Past Year Sheds Light on ’86 : Retail

In retail circles, 1985 will best be remembered as the year when actions replaced words and set the stage for even bigger growth in 1986.

The area’s two largest malls, South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island, both undertook multimillion-dollar expansion plans. Each mall expects its projects, which will extend through 1986 and beyond, to nearly double its retail space.

However, the methods of growth are very different. South Coast Plaza is building a second mall; Fashion Island is filling in acres of empty space.

The growth was not confined to the biggest malls. A $300-million redevelopment of Santa Ana’s Fashion Square began, and the Mall of Orange and Westminster Mall also announced expansion plans.

But not all centers prospered. South Coast Village in Costa Mesa continues to haunt developer Henry Segerstrom as tenants drift away--leaving behind empty storefronts. Nearly a dozen stores closed their doors there in 1985, and plans for the Village are still hazy for 1986.

Just across the street, Segerstrom’s South Coast Plaza I and II are attracting big-name tenants more commonly associated with Rodeo Drive. Gucci, for example, the designer leather goods importer, opened at South Coast Plaza I just in time for the Christmas rush. And developers are said to be negotiating with some of the top names in fashion for South Coast Plaza II, scheduled to open late next year.

Fancy stores at the new Atrium Court at Fashion Island have helped to boost business more than 20% at the Irvine Co.’s Newport Center in Newport Beach, but the center is still sorely lacking in nighttime entertainment offerings. Center developers plan to soon correct that. Plans are under way to add more restaurants and build an entertainment complex at the center to handle everything from concerts to fashion shows.

Some retailers have opted to walk more cautiously in Orange County. As a prelude to opening a retail store here, Tiffany’s, the world-famous jeweler, opened a small Orange County office to service corporate customers. But the market did not prove lucrative enough and Tiffany’s left town early in the year.