REAL ESTATE : Space Selling Fast in Anaheim Hills Festival Shopping Center

Good news in the world of commercial real estate is a rare commodity these days. But it does still trickle in--square inch by square inch.

One of the biggest things going in Orange County right now is the Anaheim Hills Festival shopping center, which broke ground recently. The 600,000-square-foot retail development, on Santa Ana Canyon Road near the Riverside Freeway, is to open next fall.

Already 70% of Anaheim Hills Festival has been leased or sold to large stores, including a Target, Mervyn’s Department Store and Marshall’s. Designed in the Santa Barbara mission style, the $70-million center is being built by Taubman Co. Inc., a Detroit developer.

“It’s the most significant project under construction in Orange County right now,” said Bart Brown, senior vice president of the Anaheim office of CB Commercial Real Estate Group, which is handling the center’s leasing.

Anaheim Hills, Brown said, is an area of the county where residential growth has outpaced retail growth. “The center definitely will be filling a need,” he said.