COSTA MESA — Customers are starting to arrive at South Coast Collection, as trendy furnishing stores, a salon school and other retailers open their doors at the remodeled outdoor shopping center in the shadow of the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway near Harbor Boulevard.
The 300,000 square-foot center branded as SoCo is about 80% leased with more than a dozen stores already open, including tpt home, a Tai Pan Trading-owned home decor store, and Paul Mitchell The School, both hosting official grand opening events this week.
The $90-million development project was completed in 2006 and sold a year later to South Coast Home Furnishing Center LLC for just under $110 million.
At one point almost entirely leased out, the center lost momentum during the real-estate slump. Many stores, including Wickes Furniture, closed their doors and the center was bought last year for $40 million by Burnham USA Equities.
"We had the opportunity to really rethink the property," Chief Executive Scott Burnham said. "We had the financial base to do something that perhaps the prior owner did not have the opportunity to do."