Otay Ranch Town Center is an open-air

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

lifestyle center A lifestyle center (American English), or lifestyle centre (Commonwealth English), is a shopping center or mixed-used commercial development that combines the traditional retail functions of a shopping mall with leisure amenities oriented toward ...

in the Otay Ranch area of Chula Vista, California, south of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. Owned and operated by Brookfield Properties with Anchor stores like

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

, Barnes & Noble,

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness (PFIP LLC) is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and loc ...

, and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

. Other retailers include

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

, H&M, and

Hollister Co. Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is a retail brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co, selling apparel, accessories, and fragrances. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. Hollister uses a narrativ ...

Dining options include

The Cheesecake Factory The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an American restaurant company and distributor of cheesecakes based in the United States. The company operates 219 full-service restaurants: 206 under The Cheesecake Factory brand and 13 under the Grand Lux C ...

Chili's Chili's Grill & Bar is an American casual dining restaurant chain. The company was founded by Larry Lavine in Texas in 1975 and is currently owned and operated by Brinker International. History Chili's first location, a converted postal statio ...

and

P.F. Chang's China Bistro P. F. Chang's China Bistro is an American-based, casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1993 by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang that serves Asian fusion cuisine. Centerbridge Partners owned and operated Chang's until acquired by the private e ...

History

2000s

Otay Ranch Town Center opened on October 27, 2006 with anchors,

Borders Books & Music Borders Group, Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol BGP) was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily i ...

REI Rei or REI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Rei, a story arc of the anime ''Higurashi When They Cry'' *Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious'' *Rei I, II and III, episodes of ''Neon Genesis Eva ...

, and

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

theaters. There is also a power center east of the mall with big box retailers like Best Buy and

Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of beauty stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ulta Beauty carries both high-end and low-end cosmetics, fragra ...

and a few restaurants. The Mall had originally been planned to be a high-end mall attracting additional anchors like

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, a ...

. Due to the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

, those plans were changed, and the site is now a soccer field. In 2007,

Borders Group Borders Group, Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol BGP) was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily ...

moved to (nearby competing mall) Westfield Plaza Bonita and was replaced with Barnes & Noble.

2010s

Since 2010, many national chain stores including Gap,

Anthropologie Anthropologie is an American clothing retailer with approximately 200 stores across the U.S., Canada, and the UK that offers an assortment of clothing, jewelry, home furniture, decoration, beauty products, and gifts. Anthropologie is part of ...

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Banana Republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring c ...

closed. As more stores and eateries closed, Chula Vista Library opened a branch in the food pavilion in 2012 replacing the vacant Geppettos and three eateries to attract more foot traffic at the center. Around 2012,

Party City Party City Holdco Inc. is an American publicly traded retail chain of party stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. Party City’s parent organization is Party City Holdings Inc. Based in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, the comp ...

and Designer Shoe Warehouse opened stores at the east end of the mall. In 2017,

Recreational Equipment, Inc. Rei or REI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Rei, a story arc of the anime ''Higurashi When They Cry'' *Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious'' *Rei I, II and III, episodes of ''Neon Genesis Eva ...

did not renew its lease and shuttered their location, and in 2018,

took its place. In 2018 and 2019 new eateries opened in the south parking lot including

Panera Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Louis ...

and

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson (1916–1994) in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coas ...

. In 2019, MTS had a Rapid Bus Route 225 stop built for Otay Ranch Town Center. This new bus route also brought with it a new bridge over SR 125, which meant that residents of the Santa Venetia area could have direct access to the town center.

2020s

In 2020, a Barons Market opened in the former DSW location after they had relocated to the former Gap location/ Toys “R” Us express. Also in 2020 the lease of the Library Branch had been extended to 2023. As of 2021 Brookfield Properties announced a reimagination of the town center, making it into a mixed-use development adding many more apartment complexes to what is the current surrounding parking-lot areas (which originally had been planned to be retail spaces in a future extension) as well as “pedestrian-friendly green spaces”. They mentioned that there are no plans to alter retail at the existing Town Center, but the project will help bring in much more foot traffic into the mall much like the few years when the town center had first opened.

Mall features

* The mall hosts a farmer's market every Tuesday afternoon * Dog park * Pet-friendly shopping center * Family-friendly shopping center, with water fountains for children and artificial grass area * Has an annual tree lighting with Christmas entertainment

References

External links

* {{Coord, 32.6237, -116.9677, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title 2006 establishments in California Shopping malls in San Diego County, California Brookfield Properties Shopping malls established in 2006 Ersatz downtowns