Luxury apartments, a movie theater, park and indoor and outdoor shops are all part of the official plan to revitalize the tired Laguna Hills Mall.

Merlone Geier Partners bought the property from Simon Property Group in 2013 and has been eyeing ways to update it. The city on Tuesday approved the mall’s plan to bring new life and entertainment to the 68-acre retail center.

“When you go through redevelopment, it takes time to understand the market and really plan,” said Stephen Logan, project director of development at Merlone Geier.

David Chantarangsu, community development director of the city of Laguna Hills, said the city has been planning for the redevelopment of the mall since 2000.

“The city’s goal is to build a village core and part of that is live, play, stay, create an environment where a resident could walk to work and stay within this community,” he said. “We want to create a real downtown that a lot of newer cities like Laguna Hills don’t have. We were master planned in the 70s and never really had a gathering spot.”

With the redevelopment approved, construction on “Five Lagunas,” the mall’s new name, will start this summer. The first phase is expected to be complete in 2018.

DESTINATION CENTER

Laguna Hills Mall was built in 1973. With the exception of minor updates in 1994, changes have not been made to the center, which has long been marked by high vacancy rates.

The mall, which has a B-minus grade, is sandwiched by A-plus malls, The Shops at Mission Viejo and Irvine Spectrum Center. Mall grades, which are determined by a variety of factors including sales per square foot, were provided by Green Street Advisors, a Newport Beach-based real estate research firm.

In order to be successful now, Green Street mall analyst DJ Busch said the mall must add food and entertainment.

“It helps position the mall to compete against e-commerce, and it is an important source of demand to back-fill for underperforming retailers,” Busch said.

Merlone Geier will gut the mall between the former Sears and JCPenney. The resulting area will be open, airy and trendier than what was there before.

Developers also will add a luxury movie theater with 14 screens, upscale dining and VIP levels for guests over age 21; a 1-acre green space called Sycamore Park will host live music and events; a farmer’s market and chef-driven restaurants also will be included.

“You need to make the experience of coming to a mall that much different and special with things like art programs and, music,” Logan said. “The key is to create experiences and something different. The landscape and greenery will really lend to that.”

Merlone Geier declined to say how much the overhaul would cost.

COMPLETE OVERHAUL

Perhaps the biggest change will be the addition of luxury apartments. In the first phase of the project, 350 units will open, with more than 900 apartments at the final tally.

The apartments will contain luxury amenities like pools and yoga studios.

Mall anchors JCPenney, Macy’s and Nordstrom Rack will remain, as will a handful of restaurants. The facades of JCPenney and Macy’s will be redone.

While a small portion of the mall will remain indoors, most of it will be converted to outdoor spaces. The indoor section of the mall will add saltwater fish tanks. Outdoors, drought friendly landscaping will be added, as will a water feature that uses recycled water.

Around 60 retailers will be at Five Lagunas, Logan said. The mall is hoping to have a mix of local and national, luxury and fast-fashion brands.

“We would love to have retailers for whom we are their only south Orange County location to make us unique,” said Scott McPherson, executive managing director of Merlone Geier.

A six-story parking garage will be added to accommodate shoppers.

McPherson and Logan agreed that once completed, the project will really be the community gathering Chantarangsu wants for Laguna Hills.

“My favorite part of this project is that we’re recycling a property. We’re taking something broken and fixing it,” McPherson said.

Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans