Lowe's closed down in Aliso Viejo? (Riverside: lease, hotel, homes)

[CaliRestoration]

I'm not in California much anymore, but I was at Fish District recently and saw that the Lowe's building was completely vacant. When did this happen?

Home Depot guy myself.

[pacific2]

Lowe's closed early this year, but it never seemed to attract many customers. The store plus the huge parking lot were just a waste of space. Personally, I didn't care for it.

Still, the closure is timely since that entire area, "The Commons," is likely to be scheduled for a major redevelopment, and a big box store would not be in keeping with proposed plans. Maybe the owners of the space decided not to renew their lease.

[Finper]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

I'm not in California much anymore, but I was at Fish District recently and saw that the Lowe's building was completely vacant. When did this happen?

Home Depot guy myself.

Last Jan. A friend of mine worked there... he transferred to Riverside.

[pacific2]

As I mentioned above, Lowe's closure could be related to major redevelopment plans for Aliso's Town Center:

Originally Posted by pacific2

First, of course, there are no ocean views in Aliso, and you said you're looking for that, but we do get ocean breezes.

Now, in terms of what I suspect is brewing in Aliso Viejo to cause new SFR construction to skyrocket, is that other developers must know about the plans for major changes in the city, through proposed renovation of Town Center (Owned by developers, after all ) in Aliso.

The city once hired DPZ ( https://www.dpz.com/) and the Urbanus Group as consultants for the proposed project.

Very productive and deatiled plenary sessions were held, with input from consulting firms and the community. All seemed to be in agreement that AV needed, and could support, substantive changes to Town Center.

The next step was said to be getting the owners of Town Center aboard.

I didn't attend the sessions, but from what I saw on YouTube, no one anticipated opposition from them. If I recall correctly, there was talk of introducing "high-end" restaurants, shops, boutiques, a new hotel, walk-able spaces, etc.; a complete "redo" of outdated Town Center.

A few weeks ago, I also saw a tweet announcing an upcoming meeting to discuss revitalization of The Commons section of Town Center.

I don't know if the meeting has already been held, but I find the timing of recent (within the last week) offerings of multiple $1M-$15M homes in Aliso to be......... interesting.

I'm sure that the city will, at some point, post updates on their website.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Lowe's closed early this year, but it never seemed to attract many customers. The store plus the huge parking lot were just a waste of space. Personally, I didn't care for it.

Still, the closure is timely since that entire area, "The Commons," is likely to be scheduled for a major redevelopment, and a big box store would not be in keeping with proposed plans. Maybe the owners of the space decided not to renew their lease.

That's interesting. I kind of agree, that entire area besides Lowe's seemed like a big waste except for Fish District and Trader Joes. They could do a lot more with that space.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

That's interesting. I kind of agree, that entire area besides Lowe's seemed like a big waste except for Fish District and Trader Joes. They could do a lot more with that space.

Like let the homeless camp there.

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Like let the homeless camp there.

It can't be that hard to stay on topic. Doctors can sometimes help if there is a recurrent problem, but since you insist, the official homeless count for 2019 found one unsheltered person in Aliso Viejo:

Which cities have the most homeless living without shelter?
https://www.ocregister.com/2019/04/2...thout-shelter/

Aliso Viejo: 1

[RosieSD]

Lowes announced in December that they were closing 50 stores throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Homelessness had nothing to do with it.

The fact that Lowes company-wide profits had dropped over the last few years did.

Lowes isn't alone - anyone who follows business news would know that many other chain retailers have recently closed stores in many parts of the U.S. because they're facing similar issues nationwide.

Bricks and mortar retailing is undergoing a major sea change.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lo...ems-2018-11-20

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/th...ths-2018-11-05

https://moneywise.com/a/retailers-cl...stores-in-2019

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by Finper

Last Jan. A friend of mine worked there... he transferred to Riverside.

Damn man, that's a long distance transfer. I hope they moved to Riverside too.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by pacific2

It can't be that hard to stay on topic. Doctors can sometimes help if there is a recurrent problem, but since you insist, the official homeless count for 2019 found one unsheltered person in Aliso Viejo:

Which cities have the most homeless living without shelter?
https://www.ocregister.com/2019/04/2...thout-shelter/

Aliso Viejo: 1

Good for Aliso. Didn't see any the last time I was there.