Vestar Lands National Tenants at Tustin Legacy

TUSTIN, CA-Vestar Development has signed the major tenants and some of the specialty shops for its District at Tustin Legacy, a one-million-sf retail center that is the first development at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. Among those signed are AMC, Target, Costco, Lowe's, Borders Books & Music and Office Depot.The new Vestar project, scheduled to open in October 2006, is a lifestyle center under way at the corner of Jamboree Road and Barranca Parkway. It also has commitments from Whole Foods, Strike Rock & Roll Bowling, TJ Maxx/Homegoods and PetsMart, according to Jeffrey Axtell, project director for the development. A host of other retailers and food tenants are committed to the project, including Johnny Rockets, the RA Sushi upscale sushi bar and Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que.Axtell says that in addition to the tenants that have already been announced as signed up for the District, Vestar will soon be announcing more specialty stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. He says tenants are attracted by Orange County's demographics, which include 1.5 million residents within 10 miles of the new Vestar development, along with 4,600 new housing units slated to be built on the land adjacent to the District as part of the overall Tustin Legacy development.The District will be the major retail component of the Tustin Legacy development, which will create an entire community on land that was once the Marine Corps facility. Axtell cites Claritas Inc. research showing a daytime population of 930,000 working at more than 76,000 businesses within a 10-mile radius of the development site.Vestar, which also developed the one-million-sf Long Beach Towne Center in Long Beach, is building the Tustin project in a joint venture with the Kimco shopping center REIT, which is its financial partner in the project. Other Vestar projects in Southern California include the 629,000-sf Pico Rivera Towne Center power center, the 830,000-sf Spectrum Towne Center power center in Chino, which is the second phase of Vestar's 1.4-million-sf regional shopping center, and the 600,000-sf Cerritos Towne Center in Cerritos.