The southeastern wing of The Shops at Mission Viejo, the section that used to anchor around Saks Fifth Avenue, has been behind construction fencing for a while now. Shoppers heading for Nordstrom or the food court on the other side of the property have had no reason to walk past it. The Shops at Mission Viejo sits alongside Foothill Ranch and Lake Forest Sports Park among the places close to Skyridge, and this wing has been the least active part of it.
That's changing. Simon Property Group is rebuilding roughly 50,000 square feet of that southeastern section, the same footprint the former Saks Fifth Avenue occupied, into an open-air retail and dining wing the company is calling the Outdoor Village. The confirmed tenant list, reported by both the Orange County Business Journal and commercial real estate research firm CoStar, is the part worth sitting with if you already live nearby, not just if you're weighing a move here.
What's Actually Going In
The lineup so far includes North Italia, a modern Italian concept, and Pacific Catch, a sustainable seafood restaurant built around Pacific coast flavors. Retail additions include a two-level Arhaus carrying the brand's heirloom furniture and home decor, along with Uniqlo, FP Movement, and Baseballism. Blue Bottle Coffee is also on the list, and it's arriving as the company's second Orange County location.
Simon's own site now promotes the Outdoor Village by name, which suggests the project is moving on schedule rather than stalling behind that fencing. Multiple 2025 reports, including OCBJ and CoStar, put the target completion at late 2026, timed for the holiday shopping season. Nobody has published an exact opening week yet, but a holiday-season target means the runway from today is measured in weeks and months, not years. This is no longer a someday project. It's a next-quarter one.
Why the Blue Bottle Detail Matters More Than It Looks
A furniture store and a seafood restaurant are the kind of tenants any successful expansion picks up. Blue Bottle choosing Mission Viejo for its second Orange County address is a different signal. The chain has built out a heavy presence in Los Angeles and San Diego but has been slow and selective about Orange County, and picking this specific mall corner for its second local shop says something about where the company sees demand heading, not just where there was empty square footage.
That selectiveness lines up with the broader retail picture at the time Simon announced the project. When the expansion was first reported in the spring of 2025, Orange County's retail vacancy rate had fallen to 3.9 percent in the second quarter of that year, the lowest it had been in 16 years, according to CoStar data cited by commercial real estate outlet CRE Daily. Retail space in the county was leasing in about seven months on average, more than three months faster than in 2022. New construction over 100,000 square feet hadn't broken ground anywhere in the county since 2018. Against that backdrop, a 50,000-square-foot addition anchored by first-choice tenants isn't background noise. It's one of the only new retail footprints of its size the county has seen in years, and it's landing at one of the shopping destinations closest to Skyridge.
The Corner That Used to Be Skippable
For as long as the Saks wing sat closed, the mall's active anchors, Nordstrom, the food court, and the entrances nearest them, sat on the opposite side of the property. Anyone parking near North Italia or Blue Bottle once they open will be parking at the end of the lot that's been the quiet one. That's a small adjustment, but it's the kind that can shift which entrance becomes the default and which side of the mall carries the evening foot traffic once the new wing is open and the old one isn't.
It also changes what a Tuesday coffee run or a Friday dinner near Skyridge could look like. The kind of sit-down dinner North Italia or Pacific Catch represents hasn't had a home inside this mall before. Once the Outdoor Village opens, that option sits inside the same trip already built around Nordstrom or Dick's Sporting Goods.
What's Already Filling the Calendar Before Then
None of this means the stretch between now and the Outdoor Village's opening is empty. Foothill Ranch Towne Centre, in the Foothill Ranch area close to Skyridge, runs a Sunday farmers market in its parking lot and hosts a summer concert series that turns the center's open areas into a free weekend draw. Caspian Mediterranean Kitchen relocated to Foothill Ranch from Irvine and has built a following around dishes like Baghala Polo and chicken kebab. Center Bar and Grill, a few doors down, keeps a dog-friendly patio with firepits and a regular live music lineup, the kind of spot suited to a Friday night that doesn't require driving anywhere.
None of that changes because a new mall wing is coming. It just means the choice on any given evening is getting wider instead of narrower, between the familiar Foothill Ranch rotation and whatever opens first inside the Outdoor Village.
What to Actually Watch For
The tenant list isn't final. Both OCBJ and CoStar note that additional restaurants and retailers are expected to be announced before the wing opens, and Simon has left room on its own site for exactly that. The safest bet for anyone tracking this closely is to watch for two things: a firm opening date attached to the 2026 holiday season, and whatever gets added to round out the current seven-name list.
The larger point is simpler than any single tenant. The quietest part of the mall is about to become the part with the newest restaurants, the newest retail, and a coffee shop that only exists in one other place in the county. That's not a reason to think differently about Skyridge. It's a reason to think differently about which end of the parking lot to park in.
If you want the next update on the Outdoor Village before it shows up in the neighborhood group chat, The Harter Group keeps a close eye on what's changing around Skyridge and Foothill Ranch and is happy to pass it along.
