New Site Plan for Village at La Floresta

Left to right: Steven Vargas, Councilmember; Jim Martinez, Project Manager for La Floresta; Cecilia Hupp, Councilmember; Mayor Marty Simonoff; Ben Shearer, Whole Foods Market Executive Coorninator of Store Development; Mac Chandler, Regency Centers Managing Director, West; Christine Marick, Councilmember; John Mehigan Regency Centers VP Investments, West; and John Hayes Regency Centers VP Project Management, West

BREA, CA—Groundbreaking for the Village at La Floresta took place here last week as the area readies itself for the new retail center by developer Regency Centers in the master-planned La Floresta community. In addition to previously signed tenant Whole Foods Market, new tenants signed include Kriser’s, 20 Lounge and Urban Plates.

The groundbreaking took place at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Valencia Ave. Guest speakers included representatives from Regency Centers, the City of Brea and Whole Foods.

According to John T. Mehigan, VP of investments for Regency Centers in Southern California, “Village at La Floresta will not only provide North Orange County with its first Whole Foods, but also new and exciting restaurants and retailers. We’ve designed this center to become the ‘downtown’ for East Brea, a gathering place for the community to meet, shop and enjoy.”

Anchored by Whole Foods Market, new tenants include Kriser’s, 20 Lounge and Urban Plates.

Centralized amongst the master-planned La Floresta community, the Village at La Floresta will be surrounded by high-end, multifamily town homes, single-family homes and luxury senior living. “We want to create a place that allows people to relax, interact and, most importantly, find the high-quality food, goods and services that meet their needs,” adds Mehigan. “With areas for gathering, community events and walking paths, we hope the community comes to see Shops at La Floresta as an extension of their own homes.”

As GlobeSt.com reported last month, Mehigan told GlobeSt.com, “I feel like retail in general is going to be more experience-based and more than just providing the same old meat and potatoes. We cater to the North Orange County market, a high-income area with a great daytime population that doesn’t have all the services it needs. There’s no Whole Foods for 15 miles, so this is a great anchor tenant to kick off the project. Whole Foods is a great tenant because when you shop there, you’re not just buying a salad—there’s a story behind it. That’s the type of retailer we’re looking for and it’s what the customer wants these days. People want to know where their food comes form, how it’s prepared, and no one does that better than Whole Foods. That’s just one tenant, but se start with a strong anchor. We want to carry that throughout the project. A great area like Brea allows you to go out and cherry-pick other retailers that people don’t have in their market.

To read story posted by GlobeSt.com, please click here.