By Eric Engelbert
Buena Park Is About to Look Very Different
Most people know Buena Park as the city with Knott's Berry Farm. The entertainment corridor along Beach Boulevard draws more than 6 million visitors a year between Knott's, Medieval Times, Pirates Dinner Theatre, and Soak City. For decades, that identity made Buena Park a tourism destination first and a residential city second.
That balance is shifting. The state of California has told Buena Park it needs to plan for nearly 9,000 new housing units by 2029. The city is responding by targeting its most underutilized commercial corridors for conversion, and Beach Boulevard, the same street that runs past Knott's and the city's regional mall, is where most of the action is happening.
The former Sears at Buena Park Downtown is being demolished right now as part of a $650 million project that will add 1,302 new homes a block from the theme park. The former Amway corporate campus half a mile away was just approved for 281 more. Affordable housing communities are rising on smaller infill sites. By the end of the decade, Buena Park will have more housing than it has ever had, concentrated along a corridor that already has more entertainment infrastructure than almost anywhere else in Orange County.
The State Mandate: 8,919 Units by 2029
Like every city in California, Buena Park received a Regional Housing Needs Assessment allocation for the 2021 to 2029 planning cycle. Buena Park's number is 8,919 units, broken down across four income categories: 2,119 very low income, 1,343 low income, 1,573 moderate income, and 3,884 above moderate income.
That is a significant number for a city of roughly 82,000 residents with limited vacant land. When Buena Park assessed its existing housing capacity against the mandate, the shortfall was approximately 7,962 units, meaning the city needed to rezone or add density overlays to accommodate nearly all of its required housing through sites that were not already slated for residential development.
The city responded with a rezoning program covering approximately 287 acres across 254 parcels, creating new mixed-use overlay zones that allow residential development at densities of 45, 60, and up to 100 units per acre on eligible sites. California's Department of Housing and Community Development certified Buena Park's Housing Element in February 2024, meaning the city is now legally required to follow through on the sites it identified. The projects currently underway are the first visible results of that planning process.
The Village at Buena Park: A $650 Million Transformation of the Mall
The largest development project in Buena Park's history is happening right now on the grounds of Buena Park Downtown, the 1.1 million square foot regional mall located at the corner of Beach Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue, one block from the main entrance to Knott's Berry Farm.
The project is called The Village at Buena Park. The developer is Merlone Geier Partners, a West Coast real estate firm with a track record of converting underperforming retail anchors into mixed-use communities. The total investment is estimated at approximately $650 million.
What Is Being Built
- 1,176 apartment units in buildings ranging from 3 to 7 stories
- 126 for-sale townhomes
- 176 affordable units integrated into the residential mix
- Approximately 3,000 parking spaces
- A 1-acre publicly accessible park
- Rooftop amenities, courtyards, and pedestrian-oriented landscaping
Where Things Stand in 2026
The City Council approved the project unanimously on June 27, 2023. Demolition of the former Sears building and auto center, which had been vacant since the chain's 2020 closure, began in early 2026. The Sears structure was approximately 65 years old and represents the kind of large-format retail anchor that is being converted to residential use in malls across Orange County. The Village is a phased, four-year build-out, meaning first deliveries are expected in the 2027 to 2028 window with the full community completing around 2029 to 2030.
The existing Buena Park Downtown mall, which includes dining, entertainment, and retail tenants beyond the former Sears footprint, remains open and operational throughout the construction period. The development is additive to the mall site, not a wholesale replacement of it.
5600 Beach Boulevard: Shopoff and Lennar on the Former Amway Campus
Half a mile south of the mall site, a 14-acre corporate campus that Amway used for decades as a training and conference center is being converted into a residential neighborhood. Irvine-based Shopoff Realty Investments purchased the property in 2025 for approximately $60 million and partnered with Lennar Homes as the builder.
The Buena Park City Council approved the project in June 2026. The development program calls for:
- 114 townhomes
- 117 duet homes (attached single-family pairs, each with private entrances and yards)
- 50 senior affordable apartments in a dedicated four-story building
- 281 total homes
The 50 affordable senior units were a key element that helped the project win city approval, and they also qualified Shopoff and Lennar for a state density bonus, allowing the full 281-unit program without expanding beyond the 13.8-acre site boundary. First homes are expected to open to the public in 2029, with phased construction continuing into 2030.
The money trail on this one is straightforward. Shopoff paid $60 million for land that Amway had used as a corporate facility, converting a low-tax, low-employment commercial use into a residential neighborhood that generates property tax revenue from 281 new assessed values, plus the spending those residents bring to nearby retail and services. At current Buena Park market pricing, 231 market-rate homes could conservatively represent $150 to $175 million in eventual sales value from a $60 million land purchase.
Smaller Projects Filling the Gaps
The Village and the Amway campus are the headliners. A second tier of smaller, targeted developments is filling in the parcels in between, each converting underutilized commercial properties into homes the city's Housing Element requires.
Lincoln Avenue Apartments: 54 Affordable Units
C&C Development broke ground on Lincoln Avenue Apartments, a 54-unit affordable housing community designed specifically to serve high-need populations the larger market-rate developments do not reach:
- 5 units reserved for student families
- 11 units for veterans
- 13 units of permanent supportive housing for families and individuals with special needs
- Funded with a grant from CalOptima Health
- Completion targeted for October 2026
Projects like this serve a specific function in the city's Housing Element compliance: they address the very low and low income categories in the RHNA allocation that market-rate developers are not incentivized to build and that the state tracks most closely when evaluating whether a city is meeting its mandate. The Village at Buena Park and the Amway site address the moderate and above-moderate categories. Lincoln Avenue addresses the lower income tiers.
Dale Townhomes at 8030 Dale Street: 93 For-Sale Homes
Brandywine Homes received City Council approval on November 12, 2024, to build 93 for-sale townhomes at 8030 Dale Street, a site that had been vacant for approximately six years after the Orchard Supply Hardware store operating there closed. Brandywine is an established Orange County builder with a track record in infill townhome projects across the region, and the Dale Street site's proximity to the Beach Boulevard corridor makes it a natural fit for for-sale residential conversion.
At 93 units it is smaller than the marquee projects to the north on Beach, but it contributes directly to the above-moderate income category of Buena Park's RHNA obligation and represents exactly the type of infill conversion the city's rezoning program was designed to activate. Groundwork is expected in mid-2026 with deliveries likely in the 2027 range.
OnBeach Phase II at 5742 Beach Boulevard: 81 Senior Apartments
The OnBeach Phase II project would add 81 senior apartment units to the upper floors of a mixed-use building at 5742 Beach Boulevard, with 39,600 square feet of ground-floor commercial space designated for medical offices, professional offices, and retail. The project held a community meeting in June 2024 and was working through city staff review heading into 2026.
Senior-designated housing serves a distinct role in the local pipeline. It targets a demographic that can be displaced by rising rents without the income trajectory to absorb increases, and it counts toward the lower income tiers of the RHNA that Buena Park must demonstrate it can accommodate. Combined with Lincoln Avenue Apartments, OnBeach Phase II is part of the city's effort to show California it is approving housing across all income levels, not only market-rate units.
Beach Boulevard: The Spine of Everything
Every major development project in Buena Park shares a geographic connection: Beach Boulevard (State Route 39), the north-south corridor that runs through the heart of the city from La Palma Avenue in the north to Orangethorpe and beyond in the south. Knott's Berry Farm sits on it. The mall is on it. The Amway campus is on it. The entertainment venues are all within walking distance of it.
Beach Boulevard is also one of the most common targets for residential conversion in Orange County because it was built for an era of auto-oriented retail that no longer pencils out economically. Strip malls, big-box anchors, and single-story commercial buildings along Beach generate modest sales tax relative to the land they occupy. Under the state's new housing mandates, those properties become far more valuable as residential sites, especially when they sit along a corridor with existing retail amenities, regional access, and now millions of annual visitors from the entertainment district.
The city's rezoning program specifically targeted Beach Boulevard parcels for the highest density overlays, up to 100 units per acre on eligible mixed-use sites. That density allowance is what makes projects like The Village economically viable: at a lower density, the land cost to per-unit ratio would not justify the investment.
What Knott's Berry Farm Means for the Neighborhood
The Village at Buena Park is one block from the entrance to Knott's Berry Farm, which draws approximately 4 million visitors per year on its own. That proximity creates an unusual real estate dynamic for the new residents who will live there.
On the positive side, living adjacent to a major regional entertainment and dining destination means walkable access to restaurants, retail, and events that most Orange County neighborhoods can only drive to. The mall itself, which is likely to continue upgrading its tenant mix as the residential population it serves grows, adds grocery, dining, and everyday convenience. The combination of entertainment, retail, and new housing creates the kind of mixed-use urban neighborhood that commands sustained demand from renters and buyers who want to live somewhere with character and activity.
The tradeoff is real: seasonal congestion around Knott's, event-night parking, and the proximity to commercial operations that run extended hours. Buyers and renters considering The Village or surrounding properties should understand the neighborhood's energy is consistent with its location. It is not a quiet residential enclave. It is an urban neighborhood built next to one of the most-visited theme parks in California, and for the right buyer or renter that is the point.
From a long-term value standpoint, Knott's represents a permanent anchor that is not going away. The park has operated in Buena Park since 1920 and the land under it is not available for development. As new residents move into the corridor and the retail and dining ecosystem upgrades to serve them, the entertainment infrastructure that was already there becomes an amenity rather than a nuisance. Early buyers in The Village are pricing in the current construction disruption; later buyers will price in the finished neighborhood next to a theme park with 4 million annual visitors.
The Buena Park Boardwalk: The Entertainment Project That Changes the Whole Corridor
One development coming to Buena Park is not residential at all, and it may be the most consequential one for the long-term value of the Beach Boulevard corridor.
The city approved an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement in 2025 with Boardwalk Enterprises for an 8.63-acre entertainment and cultural campus. The development concept includes a large-format public aquarium of approximately 76,000 square feet with an integrated restaurant, a butterfly exhibit and conservatory of approximately 42,000 square feet with its own dining component, and about 5,500 square feet of retail and activation space. Total: roughly 124,000 square feet of entertainment, dining, and cultural experience, positioned in the same corridor where The Village is rising at the mall site and 281 more homes are planned on the old Amway campus.
For residents moving into any of the new housing projects along this stretch of Beach Boulevard, the Boardwalk represents the kind of institutional entertainment anchor that functions as a permanent neighborhood amenity. An aquarium is not a strip mall. It draws repeat visitors, generates weekend foot traffic year-round, and elevates the retail and dining ecosystem around it the same way a stadium or theme park does, but at a scale that integrates with a residential neighborhood rather than overwhelming it.
The project is still in the ENA stage, meaning Boardwalk Enterprises and the city are working out terms before any entitlement applications are filed. But the city's willingness to prioritize it alongside thousands of new residential units signals that Buena Park's strategy along this corridor is deliberate: add the residents and the destination infrastructure at the same time, so the corridor becomes somewhere people want to be rather than somewhere they happen to live.
Key Dates and Numbers
| Project / Milestone | Date / Figure |
|---|---|
| Buena Park RHNA allocation (2021-2029) | 8,919 units |
| Housing Element certified by state | February 2024 |
| The Village at Buena Park: City Council approval | June 27, 2023 |
| The Village: total units (apts + townhomes) | 1,302 (176 affordable) |
| The Village: total investment | ~$650 million |
| The Village: Sears demolition began | Early 2026 |
| 5600 Beach Blvd (Amway site): Shopoff purchase price | ~$60 million (2025) |
| 5600 Beach Blvd: City Council approval | June 2026 |
| 5600 Beach Blvd: total units (Shopoff + Lennar) | 281 (50 senior affordable) |
| Lincoln Avenue Apartments completion | October 2026 (54 affordable units) |
| Dale Townhomes at 8030 Dale St: City Council approval | November 12, 2024 (93 units, Brandywine Homes) |
| OnBeach Phase II at 5742 Beach Blvd: community meeting | June 2024 (81 senior apts + 39,600 SF commercial) |
| Buena Park Boardwalk: ENA approved with Boardwalk Enterprises | 2025 (8.63 acres, aquarium + butterfly conservatory) |
| Annual visitors to Beach Blvd entertainment corridor | 6.4 million |
Buena Park is one of many cities covered on the New Developments in Orange County page. The full pipeline across every city is updated regularly.
