Roughly half of the Village at Tustin Legacy will be medical offices. This is a Hoag building. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

View of part of the Village at Tustin Legacy under construction. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Sound The gallery will resume in seconds

Great Foundations Montessori will open in September. It was designed with a farmhouse feel. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Village at Tustin Legacy will have a 43,000 square foot Stater Bros. Market. The store is double the size of a nearby Stater Bros. location. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Village at Tustin Legacy is a new retail center being built in the shadow of the old blimp hangars in Tustin. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Fitness studios, a grocery store, medical offices and restaurants will all open at the Village at Tustin Legacy this fall. The 250,000 square feet development, at the corner of Edinger Ave & Kensington Pk Dr., will open in October. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A new Stater Bros., left, is under construction at The Village at Tustin Legacy, a new retail center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

One of the old blimp hangars can be seen from The Village at Tustin Legacy retail center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Village at Tustin Legacy will have 1,000 parking spaces. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A retail center sprouting up not far from the Tustin blimp hangars and the District of Tustin is focusing on family, wellness and casual but trendy food, things you can’t necessarily experience online.

By the fall, fitness studios, a grocery store and restaurants all will open at the Village at Tustin Legacy. The 250,000-square-feet development, at the corner of Edinger Avenue and Kensington Park Drive, will open in October, built with a nod to farmhouse style. Modern medical buildings will open later.

John Mehigan, an executive with Regency Centers, the center’s developer, said Tustin Legacy will focus on tenants that offer an experience.

“Retail that can be replaced by the Internet is suffering,” Mehigan said. “We’re trying to give an experience with great architecture, places to hang out and good people.”

The center is just a five-minute drive from the District of Tustin and the Tustin/Irvine MarketPlace centers. Mehigan said Tustin Legacy will differentiate itself by being a destination for locals without clothing retailers found in nearby centers.

“Our goal was to create a convenient neighborhood center people can get in and out of quickly,” Mehigan said.

Key anchors include:

Stater Bros. Market, which the developer said is double the size of another nearby Stater Bros. grocery store. The store will feature in-store made sushi, meats (tri-tip, split whole chickens, chicken leg quarters, California hot wings, Texas style pork ribs and salmon fillets) smoked in-house daily with hickory wood chips, and a full-service deli.

The Hoag Health Center will include primary care, an urgent care clinic, imaging services, physical therapy and specialty care. It will open in spring 2018.

Food tenants with leases: Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dunkin Donuts, Yogurtland, The Pizza Press, Burger Boss, Ahipoki Bowl and Board & Brew.

In addition to food, the center will also have a Great Foundations Montessori, Club Pilates, Lee Spa Nails, CVS and Bank of America.

Great Foundations Montessori, CVS and Bank of America will open in September, ahead of the center’s grand opening.

The center is part of the overall Tustin Legacy community, which comprises 4,600 homes on 1,600 acres at the former Marine Corps Air Station.

Mehigan said there is still room for two more food tenants and two more medical tenants. He said a bakery and a tea shop are among options being considered.