By Eric Engelbert
Westminster Mall Redevelopment: From Plan to Groundbreaking
I originally wrote about the Westminster Mall redevelopment back in 2023, when the city had just approved a plan for the site and the project was still mostly a vision on paper. A lot has changed since then. The mall closed its doors, the site changed hands, and in April 2026 the developer broke ground on what is now a fully named, fully funded project. Here is an updated, complete look at where things actually stand.
The Project Now Has a Name: Bolsa Pacific at Westminster
The redevelopment is officially branded Bolsa Pacific at Westminster, a mixed-use community planned across 83.3 acres on the former mall site. The total project is valued at approximately $2.5 billion at full build out.
It is worth understanding the difference between two numbers that get used somewhat interchangeably in news coverage. The City of Westminster's 2022 site plan set a maximum limit of up to 3,000 residential units, 600,000 square feet of retail, and 9.5 acres of parks. That limit is not the same as the actual project being built. Bolsa Pacific, the real proposal moving forward, comes in smaller than that maximum on every measure. Explore Westminster homes near the site.
The Breakdown: Homes, Apartments, Retail, and More
Bolsa Pacific is planned for 2,250 total residential units, split roughly as follows:
- Approximately 860 for-sale homes and townhomes
- About 1,200 market-rate apartments
- Roughly 225 to 228 affordable housing units (this number varies slightly depending on the source, the official project site cites 228, while most news coverage cites 225)
On the commercial side, the plan includes 210,000 to 220,000-plus square feet of retail and dining space, anchored by a next-generation Target relocating within the development and a roughly 15,000 square foot food hall. A hotel with 120-plus rooms is also part of the plan.
Open space is a real part of the plan as well, with at least 15 acres set aside, including a 2-acre park designed as a shared gathering space for residents.
What It Took to Acquire the Site
Shopoff Realty Investments spent roughly $239 million total acquiring the mall property, across three separate land transactions over time. The mall had been owned by multiple parties for years, including Kaiser Permanente, Shopoff Realty, True Life Companies, and Washington Prime Group. The final and largest piece, the remaining 57.5 acres, was purchased from Washington Prime Group for $144.2 million in early 2026, consolidating the site under one developer.
True Life Companies, which previously owned a piece of the mall property, is also separately building 89 condos on their portion of the site. That project, a five-story building with 80 market-rate units and 9 units set aside for lower-income buyers, sits on about 3.6 acres near the former Babies R Us. It went through Westminster Planning Commission hearings in early 2025 and is a separate approval from Bolsa Pacific, adding to the total homes coming out of the mall site.
The Groundbreaking, April 15, 2026
The official groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 15, 2026. Bill Shopoff, head of Shopoff Realty Investments, symbolically tore down the old mall sign to mark the start of construction. Demolition of the mall structure is now underway, and the site has moved from a planning exercise into an active construction project.
Why the Mall Made the News for the Wrong Reasons
Before the groundbreaking, the mall made headlines for a different reason. The property closed on October 29, 2025, ahead of demolition, and the now-vacant building quickly became a target for trespassers and vandals, including an incident where people broke in and spray painted parts of the interior.
According to the City of Westminster's official press release from January 14, 2026, police responded to more than 400 calls and made over 65 arrests at the property in the months following its closure. It is a reminder of how quickly a vacant commercial site can become a problem for a city, and it is part of why the demolition and redevelopment timeline matters to the surrounding community, not just to future residents.
What Comes Next, and What We Do Not Know Yet
The full project approval package has been submitted to the City of Westminster, with a decision expected later in 2026. From there, the expected timeline looks roughly like this:
- 2027: Homebuilders begin purchasing finished lots, with grading and infrastructure work underway.
- Late 2027 to early 2028: Model homes are expected to open.
- 2030: Full project completion is targeted.
One honest gap in the information right now: there are no condo or townhome sale prices to report yet. The project is still pre-construction, and pricing typically is not released until homebuilders are under contract and closer to opening model homes. I will update this post as soon as actual pricing becomes available, rather than guess at numbers that do not exist.
Westminster's Bigger Housing Picture
Bolsa Pacific is the headline project, but it is helpful to understand how it fits into Westminster's broader housing situation. California requires Westminster to plan for 9,759 new homes by 2029, the eighth-largest requirement in Orange County. Bolsa Pacific's 2,250 units combined with True Life's 89 units account for roughly 24 percent of that total from the mall site alone.
Other active residential projects in the city add to that count. Bolsa Row, a 200-unit luxury apartment building at the corner of Brookhurst and Bolsa Avenue in Little Saigon, is already complete and occupied, with a second phase adding retail and restaurant space now underway. Sycamore Creek Plaza at Springdale Street and Dorothy Lane is a 213-unit mixed-use project with commercial space, a public plaza, and community amenities, with a groundbreaking anticipated later in 2026. Together, the known pipeline across these projects reaches approximately 2,750 units. Westminster still has a long way to go before 2029, but unlike some other OC cities, it has a state-approved housing plan and a real anchor project now under construction. You can see how Westminster compares to other cities on the OC New Developments page.
What This Means for Nearby Neighborhoods and Investors
Will it improve property values? My honest read is yes, over the long term. Research on similar mall-to-mixed-use projects consistently shows a ripple effect on nearby home values, with prices rising somewhere in the 5 to 20 percent range once a project like this matures. Better walkability, new restaurants and shops, and a neighborhood that looks and feels more alive than a half-empty mall drive that change.
Will it hurt values in the short term? Possibly, for homes immediately adjacent to the construction zone. Years of demolition, grading, and heavy equipment traffic right next door is a real disruption, and some buyers will discount a home for being close to an active construction site simply because of the noise and dust. I would expect that effect to be temporary and limited to the closest streets, not the broader neighborhood, and it tends to reverse once construction wraps and the new amenities open.
Is there traffic data available? The City's environmental study and traffic plan cover roadway improvements tied to the project, including signal and intersection changes. I was not able to pull specific traffic numbers from the publicly available documents, but those studies are posted on the City of Westminster's website for anyone who wants to dig in. In general, projects this size are required to pay for signal and intersection upgrades nearby, and I would expect Bolsa, Edwards, and Westminster Boulevard to see the most work as construction ramps up.
Should smaller investors look at nearby rental properties? It is worth a look, with some caveats. Data on rentals near mixed-use projects shows that rents in these areas tend to run higher than similar buildings further away, since renters will pay more to be close to walkable shops, restaurants, and amenities. If you are considering a small multifamily purchase near the site, factor the construction timeline into your numbers. The next few years will be noisier than the years after. I would also check whether a property sits in any area flagged for future zoning changes, since that can affect what you are allowed to do with it down the road. You can browse multi-family homes for sale in Westminster to see what is currently available near the site. Happy to run the numbers on specific properties if you are seriously looking.
Watching This One Closely
This is one of the biggest redevelopment projects in Orange County, and it is going to reshape what Westminster looks and feels like over the next several years. If you are curious about how this might affect home values in the surrounding neighborhoods, or you want to be among the first to know when pricing and model homes are announced, I would be glad to help.
