New owner of Anaheim’s GardenWalk plans global food choices, a beer garden, and more entertainment
The latest owner of Anaheim’s GardenWalk, its third in a decade, is hoping a slew of changes and new additions will lead to a level of success that has so far eluded the open-air mall that sits less than a mile from Disneyland.
Whittier-based STC Management has signed leases with restaurants that will serve Indian street food, Japanese fusion cuisine, Taiwanese desserts, boba tea and more, company CEO John Hsu said. Also expected to fill out the mall’s vacant storefronts: a board game cafe, a bar with arcade games and a year-round haunted house.
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Hsu is aiming to have many of the incoming businesses open by summer, soon after an AMC theater that closed last year at Downtown Disney opens at GardenWalk on Memorial Day weekend.
The already signed leases should bring the mall’s occupancy to about 90 percent.
“We’re hoping by the end of the year we should be 100 percent,” Hsu said. “We’re very aggressive.”
STC – which manages commercial properties around Southern California, including the Whittier office building that housed Richard Nixon’s first law office – bought the struggling GardenWalk in December for $80 million, which Hsu considered a bargain. Originally built for about $130 million, the center reportedly sold for $73 million in 2012, following a bankruptcy.
While it may not have lived up to its potential yet, Anaheim city spokesman Mike Lyster said GardenWalk has done better in the past few years, with the relocation of the House of Blues from Downtown Disney and openings of several other stores and eateries.
“There’s so much potential there and we just want to see the center continue along that path” he said of the new ownership.
Hsu said when GardenWalk was first built, area rents soared and smaller independent businesses couldn’t afford to stay. The corporate chains that came in were attractive mainly to tourists, but didn’t draw locals who are often looking for something unique.
He sees demand there that he hopes to fill with variety, including an array of food and drink options plus entertainment for all ages.
Anaheim Councilwoman Lucille Kring, who ran a wine bar at GardenWalk for three years, said what has really hampered the center is that it was “terribly designed,” leaving tenants who aren’t next to the street hidden from view, and the parking structure – with limited free parking – was an annoyance.
Her wine bar, a previous movie theater and other businesses closed because customers didn’t know they were there, she said, adding, “When a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory goes out of business, there’s something wrong.”
What’s Hsu’s strategy to succeed where others haven’t? Offer experiences that will attract Southern Californians as well as vacationers here for the theme parks.
Besides adding restaurants, cafes and bars, Hsu plans to turn a large open patio near the House of Blues into a beer garden with local drafts and a small dog park where guests can bring pets. Community events, a farmers market and street performers are planned to draw people to the mall’s outdoor spaces, where upgraded artwork, lighting and landscaping will create inviting places to relax or take selfies.
The mall will still include shops and will add an on-site service allowing out-of-towners to ship purchases home instead of lugging shopping bags.
Another company owns the rights to build vacation time share units on top of the center’s parking garage, and Hsu said he’s interested in buying the rights and developing. Even without the time shares, GardenWalk will have a built-in audience from a recently renovated hotel and a new one under construction that flank the mall; two more adjacent high-end hotels have been discussed but are on uncertain timelines.
To attract guests from the JW Marriott under construction next door, Hsu envisions a small convenience store, a nail and beauty salon, and an urgent care in a less visible spot on the lower level. And he plans to court the Disney crowd with discounts for cast members and annual passholders.
His first priority is making customers happy, followed by his tenants, “because they’re our best PR,” Hsu said, so the center is undergoing extensive maintenance now.
“We don’t want to earn people’s money – we want to earn their respect,” he said.
Kring’s advice is to make the parking easier, advertise heavily and post plenty of signs so customers know where things are.
“I wish them nothing but the best,” she said. “Everything that goes on there is a benefit to the city and the taxpayers.”