A vision for two aging shopping centers may introduce a new kind of living to the South Coast Metro area, one that would create a very different south Bristol Street corridor in one of Orange County’s most popular destinations for shopping and culture.
Related Bristol is a proposed mixed-use development in an area of the county that has seen little new housing construction in recent years and has largely stayed true to the traditional distinct separation of housing and commercial development.
Envisioned is a two-block development of up to 3,750 residential units, a 250-room hotel, a 200-unit tower for senior living and up to 350,000 square feet of restaurants and shops, a grocer, as well as 13 acres of open space for the public, all mixed together in a new neighborhood. If approved, developer Related California, based in Irvine, could break ground on the project as early as 2026, though the phased construction would likely take until 2036.
The South Coast Metro area, which spans Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, is already the county’s cultural center. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts, with its revolving selection of musical performances and Broadway and black box theater, the Orange County Museum of Art, which is closing in on its first anniversary in its new designer home, and, most notably, South Coast Plaza draw millions of visitors to the area each year.
Just across the street from the arts area and the plaza, the two blocks on the west side of Bristol Street between MacArthur Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue have seen little change in decades.
The blocks have been owned by the Callens family for more than 100 years. In the 1970s, as South Coast Plaza took root, the Callens family followed suit across the street, turning their farming land into two shopping centers surrounded by a sea of asphalt parking lots. It’s home now to large retailers such as Ross Dress for Less and Hobby Lobby, a Vons, restaurants of varying size, smaller storefront businesses and a couple of banks.
“Today we’re at a crossroads driven by three major factors. One, it’s just the changing nature of retail. Consumer preferences are changing,” said Steven Oh, executive vice president at Related California and lead executive on the Related Bristol project.
“The second part is unique to this center. All of the leases on this property expire at the end of 2025,” he said. “Every single lease. It is an interesting challenge, but also a unique opportunity. This center is going to change one way or another. We just have to collectively think about what we want the center to change into for the next generations to come.”
The third factor, Oh said, is the vision city leaders have for the future role of this southern end of town – set forth in recent updates to the general planning for city development.
“They themselves had a vision for this south portion of Santa Ana to find opportunities to take these sort of auto-centric 1970s-era shopping centers and transform them into mixed-use villages that really encourage the idea of community gathering and take a sort of outdated model, and transform it for the next generations to come,” Oh said.
The Callens family and the developers set priorities when coming up with the Related Bristol plan, Oh said, which included a “people first” design with community-centric landscaping and high walkability.
The vision, Oh explained, is to create a one-stop location where folks living at Related Bristol and those visiting from around the county can shop, dine, grab groceries and walk their dog.
“You’re in the car for about 90 minutes a day and add in a lot of trips. Those trips generate greenhouse gases. The virtue of a mixed-use project is rather than making those nine trips and spending 90 minutes in your car, take those 90 minutes and do exactly what you wanted to do and just spend a day at Related Bristol,” Oh said. “Imagine you can come in, grab a cup of coffee, meet with your friend, make a business call out on the park, grab lunch, get your groceries, and then go home.”
The team behind the project wants to address Santa Ana’s – and Orange County’s – housing crisis, changing retail landscape and lack of public community spaces, the designers of Related Bristol said, by creating a development that can address all three issues in one location.
“There’s a focus on residential because there hasn’t been a lot of it. You’re seeing a little bit of that now in the area,” Bill Witte, CEO and founder of Related California, said. “Second, it is a very different kind of mixed-use experience, more open to the public, more open air. One-third of the site is devoted to public use and open space, more pedestrian-friendly.
“It’s not New York, nor is it intending to be,” he said of the development that will span the full 42-acre property. “But we think this is an opportunity to create a major urban center for the county, that happens to be in Santa Ana.”
OC’s changing landscape
Related Bristol is not alone in looking to revitalize an aging shopping area and put an expanse of parking asphalt to use.
The Segerstrom family, creators of South Coast Plaza, has also recently released a proposal for the South Coast Village annex across the street from the main mall — and adjacent to Related Bristol’s western flank.
Their proposal for the 17.2-acre property at Sunflower Avenue and Bear Street envisions more than 1,500 residential units, office and retail space, and more than 3 acres of open space available to the public. The project, called The Village Santa Ana, is just starting its process with the city.
Oh said the projects are complementary, not competitors, and the two entities have had good communication throughout their process.
The south Bristol corridor is a cornerstone of Orange County, and all these planned developments are further proof that the area is undergoing an era of transformation, Oh said.
“For many years it has been a very strong retail center for Orange County and will continue to be with South Coast Plaza and some of the related development that we’ve seen that’s around there,” agreed Jeffrey Ball, president and CEO of the Orange County Business Council.
“We view the Related Bristol project as a great example of the type of planned development that we really need to see at some of these properties around our retail centers,” Ball said. “It is going to have a tremendous economic impact on the area, as well as providing the type of residential and commercial space that we think is important for the county going forward.”
Over the next few years, the southern Santa Ana region should expect to see more modern development with an increased focus on residential and community components than ever before, Ball said.
“That is going to benefit the retail side of that area because you’re going to have more residences that are closer to that retail and is also going to provide the benefit of a well-planned community area,” Ball added. “We should recognize the significant level of investment that’s going into this portion of Orange County, which in and of itself represents the strengths of the region and the importance of that South Coast Metro area.”
The locals
Related Bristol’s proposal is heading into the last stretch at City Hall, with appearances before the Planning Commission and then the City Council expected later this year. Initial community meetings launching the review process with the city were held last year and the developers say they have made numerous presentations to stakeholders and neighbors.
Folks who already live in the area have been looking at Related Bristol’s new vision for this part of Orange County they call home and some say they see a lot of new neighbors replacing the convenience of their neighborhood shopping center and wonder if such a modernization will still serve the area’s needs.
“We have no issues with the luxury hotel, the assisted living facility, most of the retail space, the food court or the green space,” Tammy Frias, president of the Sandpointe Neighborhood Association about a mile away, said. “What we do have many concerns about is the amount of rentals. They’re suggesting over 3,700 rentals. With that amount, we are looking at an additional 10,000 people added to an already overpopulated, high-density area.”
Residents’ concern over the density of Related Bristol’s residential component goes hand-in-hand with their worries traffic will increase on the already major thoroughfares and parking will become even more scarce in surrounding neighborhoods than it is now. Neighborhood associations around the project have been meeting and organizing.
Lorena Vidaurri, vice president of the Republic Homes Neighborhood, less than a mile away, said, “That person that’s going to be living there, will they pay the additional money for additional parking, or will they just see what other neighborhoods they can park in the area?”
It boils down to who is being served by this new vision, Frias said. “They seem to be showing us that they really only care about the clientele that they will be catering to and not the original stakeholders and renters that have already been residing in this area for multiple decades.
“No one’s doubting it’s going to look beautiful. We are looking forward to the green space. And they talked about maybe having a food court and having a farmer’s market there,” she said. “All of that sounds wonderful, but we’ve got to get through all of these little things first.”
Oh said Related Bristol’s developers “made the decision to place a premium on the quality of the experience for residents and visitors alike by not developing the project to its maximum,” pointing out that the density proposed is tapping only about half of what city leaders have zoned that section of Bristol Street to allow.
The project could make a dent in the allocation of 3,095 new housing units the state has mandated Santa Ana leaders plan for in the next decade – but more than half of those units need to be moderately priced or even more affordable. More than 580 have to be very low income.
“In terms of housing and affordable housing, right now, we are in the process of having conversations with stakeholders about the mix on the housing,” Oh said.
The city’s housing rules give developers options for how they will address affordable housing with their projects, such as including lower-income units in the construction, building affordable units at a different site or paying into a fund.
Witte said his company, Related California, is “one of the most active developers of 100% affordable housing in the state,” including in a 134-unit, 100% affordable project on Santa Ana Boulevard near the train station and another 86-unit project, Washington Crossings, under construction now that is half permanent supportive housing for the homeless and half affordable housing.
Whether or not this project should include affordable housing in its mix, or what that would look like, is something developers will have to discuss with the city, Witte said.
“We’re the largest developer of mixed-income housing in the state, so we know how to do it better than anybody else, but that conversation needs to be holistically,” Oh said. “And that’s what we’re doing right now, along with all of the community benefits that have to go with it.”
Parking for visitors and residents of Related Bristol will be spread throughout the project, the developers said, including a vast underground complex and likely some above-ground structures. And residents will also be offered what is called an “unbundled parking option” to save on rent.
“In our firm’s experience and based on real-world data, we believe a number of our Related Bristol residents, particularly those in the smaller studios and 1-bedroom residences, will not own two cars,” Oh said. “Therefore, we can unbundle the parking cost for two vehicles from their rent, create an incentive to have fewer cars, as well as, reduce our resident’s housing costs.”
Development of the project would happen south to north, Oh said, starting closest to South Coast Plaza. While leases will all expire before shovels hit the ground, some businesses may choose to extend until the phased approach reaches their center.
Which businesses might sign on for the new construction also remains to be seen – and that’s a concern for neighbors.
“They’re not committing to keeping the Vons or even a Ralphs or an equivalent grocery store. This is our only grocery store now in the South Coast Metro area,” Frias said. “We don’t want it to become an Amazon Fresh or a Whole Foods. This is a middle-income area. And we want to keep it a Vons or a Ralphs, but they won’t commit to it.”
Aside from the local grocer, residents also worry they will lose local favorites such as Hans’ Ice Cream, which has been in the center since 1971, Baja Fish Tacos or Accent Cleaners.
“They are family-owned businesses and everybody knows them,” Vidaurri said. “What are they going to do to the businesses that have been taking care of all of us all these years?”
Related Bristol folks say they continue to accept feedback from community members on the mix of desired businesses and other aspects as the project makes its way to the city’s planning commission for approval. For more information, go to relatedbristol.com.
This story has been updated to correct the graphic.
