The Village at Laguna Hills (Formerly Five Lagunas)

In March of 2016, the City approved a plan for the renovation of the Laguna Hills Mall which included approximately 880,000 square feet of new and renovated commercial retail space, movie theaters, restaurants, and 988 residential units. The approved plan was known as Five Lagunas. Within the last year, the property owner of Five Lagunas, Merlone-Geier Partners (MGP), informed City staff that they could not move forward with the approved 2016 plan.

On November 1, 2019, MGP submitted a development application to the City to replace the Five Lagunas project approved in 2016. Renamed, “The Village at Laguna Hills”, MGP’s development proposal includes the following:

Retail: 250,000 square feet

Hotel: 150 Rooms

Office: 465,000 square feet 

Mixed Use/ Residential: 1,500 units

For additional information, please contact Jay Wuu, Senior Planner by phone at 949-707-2662 or by email at jwuu@lagunahillsCA.gov.

Link to Planning Division "Planning Projects & New Developments" Page: The Village at Laguna Hills

Introduction and Background

On November 4, 2019, Merlone-Geier Partners (MGP), owners of the former Laguna Hills Mall site, submitted a new development proposal to the City.  This new project is intended to replace the Five Lagunas project that was approved in March 2016 which included approximately 926,000 square feet of commercial space (consisting of retail, restaurants, health club, cinema uses, and approximately 46,000 square feet for medical offices) and 988 dwelling units.  The new proposal is now called “The Village at Laguna Hills.”  By way of background, MGP purchased the Laguna Hills Mall from Simon Properties in May of 2013.  In March of 2016, the City Council approved a redevelopment project known as Five Lagunas.  By late 2017, MGP decided that the market would not support the approved Five Lagunas project and, consequently, went back to the drawing board.  In the meantime, they acquired the leases of Macy’s and JC Penny’s to make way for a broader redevelopment of the site.  In April of 2019, MGP floated a development proposal to the Community that greatly intensified the development with more housing and office space, and less retail.  This proposal was generally opposed by the Community and was never formally submitted as a development application to the City.  Once again, MGP went back to the drawing board and submitted the proposal they are now calling “The Village at Laguna Hills.”

Below are a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that the Laguna Hills’ community has asked.  The community organization known as the Future of Laguna Hills Advisory Group, or FLAG for short, compiled these questions and formally submitted them to the City Council to provide the community greater transparency about the planning procedures and process.  These FAQs are fluid in nature and will be updated and added to as the need arises.  To be included on the City’s public notification list for this project please submit your contact information by email to Jay Wuu at jwuu@lagunahillsca.gov.