When Simon Property Group announced the expansion of The Shops at Mission Viejo on March 27, 2025, it gave one deadline. The Orange County Register reported that construction would be finished in time for the holiday shopping season in 2026. That season has arrived. Of the restaurants announced for the new outdoor village, one has an opening date before the year ends. North Italia's location page reads "Opening 12/16."
So December 2026 at the mall looks more like a preview than a finished village. One full-service restaurant opens on the new promenade. The coffee bar, the barbecue spot and the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar are slated for early 2027. Santa photos, the kids' events and the long December hours all happen inside the existing building.
What Is Going Up on the East Lot
Mission Viejo's Planning and Transportation Commission approved the project as Planned Development Permit P-PDP2024-0008 on June 9, 2025. The meeting minutes describe the project this way:
- Site: a 2.5-acre section of existing surface parking on the east side of the mall
- Position: right next to the mall entrance between the food court and the north Macy's building
- Buildings: four new structures totaling 47,812 square feet
- Centerpiece: a half-acre open-air promenade with restaurants, outdoor dining and pedestrian amenities
The commissioners asked practical questions. One wanted to know whether a car could be driven into the promenade. Senior Planner Tim Martin said the design review had looked at safety and planned enough bollards, planters and trees to keep vehicles out. Parking also came up, since the village is being built on part of the lot. Jocelyn Gubler, Simon's vice president of real estate development, said the company's parking study found the lot underused. She also described the project as a shift away from an earlier plan for a department store and toward a wider mix of retail and more food and beverage choices.
Why Simon Is Betting on Dinner
The Orange County Business Journal reported in November 2025 that The Shops at Mission Viejo's taxable sales fell 24% to $263 million in the 12 months ended June 30, 2025. That still ranked the mall eighth by sales on the Business Journal's annual list of Orange County shopping centers. In the same article, general manager Patsy Sanquist told the Business Journal that "outdoor living plays an integral part in the Orange County lifestyle, and this additional open-air space adds a significant point of emphasis in our revitalization plans."
Simon is making the same bet at Brea Mall, which is a year ahead. OCBJ reported that Brea had finished a 119,000-square-foot outdoor plaza on its southwest side by November 2025. North Italia opened at Brea in April 2026. The Register's September 2026 roundup on restaurants becoming the new mall anchors cited Placer.ai estimates that put August 2026 visits up 30.4% from a year earlier at Brea Mall and up 1.2% at The Shops at Mission Viejo. The Register also noted that Placer.ai cannot isolate dining visits or show cause and effect. Still, the two malls are a year apart in the same rebuild by the same owner, and visits at the one with its plaza open are growing much faster.
In that Register story, North Italia's senior director of marketing, DJ Duporte, said, "Whether someone comes for dinner and stays to shop or comes to shop and decides to grab a meal, the best properties create that natural connection." Mission Viejo's version of that connection begins with one restaurant in December.
The Lineup, Then and Now
The tenant list has changed since the March 2025 announcement. The Register's early coverage named North Italia and Pacific Catch as the signed restaurants, along with a two-story Arhaus furniture and home decor store. By September 2026, a Simon spokesperson gave the Register a different food lineup and new timing.
| Tenant | What it is | Timing as of this week |
|---|---|---|
| North Italia | Full-service Italian restaurant, Suite 1100 | Opening December 16 |
| Gus's BBQ | Barbecue restaurant | Slated for early 2027 |
| Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar | Restaurant and bar | Slated for early 2027 |
| Blue Bottle Coffee | Coffee bar | Slated for early 2027 |
| Arhaus | Two-story furniture and home decor store | Part of the village plan |
| Pottery Barn | Relocated to a larger Level 1 space near Nordstrom | Open |
| Williams-Sonoma | Relocated to a larger Level 1 space near Nordstrom | Open |
The home stores came first. Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma are already open in their larger Level 1 spaces near Nordstrom, according to Simon's redevelopment page. Those moves happened inside the existing mall. The restaurants are opening last because they depend on new buildings out on the lot.
Pacific Catch was part of the 2025 lineup. The roster Simon gave the Register in September 2026 names North Italia, Gus's BBQ, Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar and Blue Bottle Coffee.
December 16, and the Calendar Around It
North Italia's listed address is 555 The Shops at Mission Viejo, Suite 1100, with a phone line at (949) 534-8042. Dec. 16 falls in the busiest stretch of the mall's season. Simon's posted hours run 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day from Dec. 14 through Dec. 18, then 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Dec. 19 through Dec. 23. So the mall's first new restaurant opens about a week before Christmas Eve, when the mall is already open late every night.
Everything else on this season's calendar takes place in the existing building or elsewhere in the city. Here is the schedule from today through New Year's Eve, in order:
- Santa photos and pet photos: Nov. 6 through Dec. 24, according to Simon's Santa photo page, which lists daily session hours.
- Harvest Time: Nov. 20 at 10:30 a.m. in the play-area activation space, with crafts and family activities.
- Thanksgiving, Nov. 26: the mall is closed. Black Friday, Nov. 27: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Santa's Arrival & Lighting Ceremony: Sunday, Nov. 29, at Civic Center Plaza, 200 Civic Center Drive. This is the city's event, not the mall's. The Mission Viejo Activities Committee says festivities begin at 3 p.m., Santa arrives by fire engine at 6 p.m., and children help switch on the holiday lights. The mall's own holiday event listing has no tree lighting, which makes Civic Center Plaza the place for the season's lighting moment.
- Caring Santa: Dec. 6, 9 to 10:30 a.m., in Nordstrom Court. Reservations are required.
- Winter Wonderland: Dec. 11 at 10:30 a.m. in the play-area activation space.
- North Italia opens: Dec. 16.
- Christmas Eve, Dec. 24: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Christmas Day: closed. New Year's Eve: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
What Early 2027 Adds
The next round of openings is what turns a single restaurant into a village. Once Gus's BBQ, Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar and Blue Bottle Coffee open, the promenade will have a coffee bar and two more places for lunch or dinner. Add North Italia, Arhaus and the outdoor dining terraces OCBJ described in the plan, and the east lot becomes the half-acre gathering space the commission approved.
At Brea, where the plaza was finished by November 2025, August 2026 visits were up 30.4% from the year before. Mission Viejo's first year with an open promenade starts on December 16.
The village is a good example of how a change at a familiar Mission Viejo address can quietly shift the way the area around it is used. Our team follows details like these because they shape how a home in that area is presented and valued. If you'd like to know what nearby changes like this mean for your own property, Tim Smith Real Estate Group is glad to walk through it with you. Request a home valuation, and we'll start with what's changing on your side of town.
