Posted August 2026 | By Eric Engelbert | Updated as the project progresses.
380 Apartments Are Coming to Brea Mall. Here Is What Simon Property Group Is Building and Why.
The former Sears at Brea Mall closed in 2020 when the chain went bankrupt, leaving approximately 162,000 square feet of empty anchor space on a 15.5-acre parcel in the heart of North Orange County's most prominent retail center. Most vacant anchor sites in the U.S. have stayed vacant, been converted to discount retail, or been sold off to third-party developers with no connection to the mall. Simon Property Group did something different: it acquired full control of the Sears parcel, demolished the building, and is constructing in its place a mixed-use development that integrates 380 rental apartments, a 90,000-square-foot Life Time Fitness athletic resort, and a new dining and retail district anchored by Din Tai Fung.
This is not a story about a mall struggling to survive. It is a story about the country's largest mall operator making a deliberate, well-funded bet that the future of a successful retail center is a neighborhood, not just a shopping destination. The thesis is that people who live at the mall will shop at the mall, eat at the mall, and work out at the mall, and that the synergy between residential and retail produces better outcomes than either could achieve alone. Whether that thesis is right will be answered over the next few years as the apartments lease up and the tenants open. What is already clear is that Simon has the financial resources to see it through.
This post covers what is being built, who the apartments are for, the tenant lineup, and the business logic behind Simon's decision to invest here rather than walk away as they did at other properties. For the full Brea development picture, see the Brea development overview.
What Simon Is Building: The Full Scope of the Sears Site Redevelopment
The 15.5-acre former Sears site is being rebuilt from the ground up. The existing structure was fully demolished to allow for a development program that could not be accommodated within the original building's footprint or structural grid. What is replacing it is a coordinated mix of residential, fitness, dining, and retail uses organized around a central green and public plaza that ties the new development to the existing mall.
5-story building
Above 3-story parking
593 resident spaces
2-story athletic resort
Pools, spa, childcare
Group fitness + cafe
4 new buildings
Central plaza and lawn
Seasonal event space
292 additional mall spaces
Structured parking garage
Shared access design
| Project Address | Brea Mall, 1065 Brea Mall, Brea, CA 92821 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Simon Property Group (Indianapolis, IN) |
| Former Use | Sears anchor store (closed 2020, ~162,000 SF) |
| Redevelopment Area | 15.5 acres |
| Residential Units | 380 apartments (23 affordable at 65% AMI, 15 at 120% AMI) |
| Building Height | 5 stories residential above 3-story parking structure |
| Life Time Fitness | 90,000 SF athletic resort (2 stories) |
| New Retail / Dining | 119,000 SF across 4 structures |
| Parking Added | 593 resident + 292 additional mall spaces |
| Outdoor Amenities | Central green, public plaza, redesigned streetscape |
| First Residents Expected | 2025-2026 |
| Simon National Investment | $1.5 billion (multiple properties in portfolio) |
The Tenant Lineup: What Is Opening and What It Says About the Market
The retailers and restaurants Simon has assembled for the redeveloped portion of Brea Mall are not filling space with whoever will sign a lease. They represent a deliberate move upmarket that reflects Simon's read on the North OC customer base and the income profile of the households it expects to live at and near the mall.
Dining
Din Tai Fung is the anchor tenant for the dining component and the most significant addition. The Taiwanese dim sum chain has a cult following across Southern California and generates destination traffic that extends well beyond a normal mall's trade area. Its Brea location will draw customers from across North OC and into Los Angeles County who are already familiar with the brand from its Del Amo, South Coast Plaza, and Glendale locations. North Italia, a contemporary Italian concept operated by Fox Restaurant Concepts, rounds out the upscale dining side. Chagee Tea Bar, a fast-growing premium tea concept, appeals to the younger demographic that Simon expects to concentrate in the residential building.
Retail
Zara, UNIQLO, Alo Yoga, The North Face, and Tumi represent the fashion and lifestyle retail mix. Pottery Barn and Lululemon are relocating and expanding within the center rather than opening new units, which reflects both their confidence in the upgraded center and their existing relationship with the Brea customer. Rivian's showroom is the most strategically notable addition: Rivian does not operate conventional dealerships and selects its showroom locations in high-income, brand-conscious markets where its target customer already spends time. Their presence at Brea is a signal about who Simon expects to live in and visit this center.
Life Time Fitness
Life Time is not a standard gym. The 90,000-square-foot two-story facility includes multiple pools, a spa, childcare, group fitness studios, a cafe, and a range of programming that positions it as a daily destination rather than a facility people visit two or three times a week. Monthly memberships typically run in the range of $150 to $200 per person, which narrows the addressable market to higher-income households. Life Time selects locations deliberately for this reason: they need a dense, high-income population within their trade area to sustain full enrollment. Simon chose Life Time as its anchor tenant for this development precisely because the North OC demographic around Brea clearly clears that bar.
The 380 Apartments: Living at the Mall as a Lifestyle Choice
The residential component of the Brea Mall redevelopment is five stories of apartments above a three-story parking structure, positioned to give residents direct visual and pedestrian access to the central plaza, the dining corridor, and the Life Time Fitness below. The building is not being sold as a conventional apartment complex that happens to be near a mall. It is being marketed on the premise that living at this specific location provides a lifestyle that is unavailable anywhere else in North OC: Din Tai Fung, Life Time, Pottery Barn, and a central lawn, all accessible without a car.
The affordable component is modest relative to the total unit count. Twenty-three units are reserved for households earning up to 65 percent of the Area Median Income, and 15 units are available to households earning up to 120 percent of AMI. The remaining 342 units are unrestricted market-rate rentals. The affordable set-aside satisfies the city's inclusionary requirements and likely qualified the project for certain development concessions during the entitlement process, but it does not change the fundamental character of the building, which is a premium rental product in a premium location.
For North OC renters who have been priced out of coastal markets but want a lifestyle-oriented rental product rather than a conventional garden apartment, the Brea Mall address may represent the closest available equivalent to what urban mixed-use living looks like in Los Angeles or San Diego. Whether it achieves the lease-up rates and rents Simon is projecting will be the test of that thesis in real market conditions.
Simon's Strategy: Why They Are Investing in Brea and Not Walking Away
A note on how I came to look at this: I attended Indiana University, where the Simon family has been a prominent civic presence for decades. Herb Simon, who co-founded what became Simon Property Group with his brother Melvin, was a major donor and public figure in Indiana. That familiarity made me curious when the Simon name showed up on a Brea Mall redevelopment plan, and I looked into the company's actual financial position before writing about what they are building here.
Simon walked away from several malls between 2020 and 2022, letting creditors foreclose on properties they had concluded were not worth saving. Montgomery Mall in Pennsylvania, Town Center at Cobb in Georgia, Crystal Mall in Connecticut. These were second- and third-tier properties in declining markets with occupancy problems that preceded COVID. The foreclosures were not a sign of financial distress. Most Simon mall loans are structured as non-recourse debt, meaning the collateral is the building and not Simon's corporate balance sheet. When a property cannot be saved, surrendering it to the lender is the rational exit. Simon's credit rating, liquidity, and retained portfolio are unaffected.
Brea Mall is not in the same category as the properties they surrendered. It is a performing retail center in a high-income North OC trade area with occupancy levels and sales productivity that justify a significant capital investment. Simon's financial position as of late 2024 includes approximately $10.1 billion in liquidity, $2 billion in cash, 96.5 percent portfolio occupancy, and an S&P rating of A-minus with a positive outlook. They are not stretching to fund this project.
The mixed-use concept Simon is installing at Brea is a tested model. The same formula, Life Time Fitness plus premium dining plus residential, was first deployed at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. Simon had operating performance data from Phipps before committing $1.5 billion nationally to the template. Brea is a scaled installation of something that worked, not an experiment.
What the Brea Mall Redevelopment Means for Brea Real Estate
The most direct effect of the Brea Mall redevelopment on the surrounding real estate market is the addition of 380 rental units in a location that currently has essentially no comparable product. Brea's existing apartment inventory is predominantly mid-century garden apartments and small complexes built in the 1970s and 1980s. A new five-story building with modern finishes, structured parking, and ground-floor access to Din Tai Fung and Life Time Fitness is a product type that has simply not existed in this market. The first year of leasing will establish what that product commands in rent, and those rents will provide a data point for every subsequent rental and for-sale transaction in the Brea trade area.
For existing Brea homeowners, the tenant upgrades at the mall are the more immediately relevant development. When the full lineup is operating, the center becomes a materially better version of what it already was. Retailers and restaurants of this caliber do not open in markets they are uncertain about. Their presence reinforces Brea's position as a premium North OC address and provides additional justification for the price premium Brea homes have historically commanded over comparable inventory in neighboring cities.
For buyers considering Brea, the construction and leasing timeline at the mall means the full benefit of the redevelopment will be realized gradually over 2025 and 2026. Buyers who purchase before the project is complete are buying into a market where the improvement is priced in partially but not fully, which is generally the better time to buy than after the amenity is fully delivered and fully reflected in comps.
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