Brea Mall Sunset Green: What's Open Before the Apartments

When the City of Brea approved the Brea Mall Mixed Use Project on May 2, 2023, the plan centered on housing. It called for a five-story building of 380 rental apartments on the land where Sears once stood. The plan also included restaurants, shops, a fitness club and a green space for the people who would live there.

Three years later, most of the plan is open. The housing is the only part that isn't. Sunset Green debuted in May 2026, Life Time opened in July, and Din Tai Fung was running full service by the end of August. The apartments got their building permits in January 2026, and reported targets put first move-ins in spring 2029. That order shapes the next few years. The park, the patios and the pool club were planned for a new residential block, and until that block fills in, they belong to the rest of Brea.

What Was Actually Approved

The state's environmental record for the project describes up to 15.5 acres. That land held the closed 161,990-square-foot Sears store and auto center, plus about 7.42 acres of surface parking. According to Voice of OC's 2023 coverage, 38 of the 380 apartments are set aside as affordable units, and the plan includes nearly an acre of green and plaza space.

The commercial numbers are where it gets interesting. The approved plan adds a net 47,425 square feet of commercial area. At buildout, the mall's total commercial area would be 1,338,858 square feet. The Orange County Register puts the current mall at 1,281,795 square feet. The Sears store and its auto center together covered 161,990 square feet, and the net commercial gain is less than a third of that. Most of the old Sears land is going to other uses: a lawn-and-patio gathering space, a fitness campus across the road, and an apartment building.

AMLI Residential is building the apartments as AMLI Brea at 1650 Brea Mall. A February 2026 report in The Registry gave the count as 377 apartments, three fewer than the city approved. The accessible excerpt doesn't explain the difference.

The Order It Opened In

Some of the food and drink tenants on the new side of the mall were open before 2026. The Register's November 2025 guide to eating at Brea Mall found Philz Coffee, The Alley and Tang Bar already serving customers. It described Tang Bar as only two months old at the time. The big pieces came in 2026:

Check N' Play has been open since December 2025 at 2072 Brea Mall, Brea, CA 92821, inside the mall next to Dick's Sporting Goods. For current hours and reservations, visit the official Check N' Play website.

The Daily Pilot covered North Italia's opening day. WhatNow reported that Pacific Catch opened May 6. Exact opening days for The Melt, HEYTEA and the two home stores weren't published. The dates above are the earliest ones on which each was reported open.

Sunset Green Is the Piece Anyone Can Use

Sunset Green is the part of the project with no reservation, membership or check attached. Columnist Daxon described it in the Register in July as an outdoor, park-like area with tables, seating and play spots for kids. The new Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn shops sit around it, along with Pacific Catch, North Italia and The Melt.

It opened with free programming. The May launch series included Saturday family sessions with DJs, balloon artists and face painting, plus a live music evening series called "Evening Vibes & Sips." Lululemon led complimentary yoga on two Sunday mornings, May 3 and May 17, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. On July 3, the space hosted an America's 250th celebration with free ice cream.

The city approved roughly an acre of green and plaza space alongside 380 homes. Right now, no one lives next to it. Every family at those tables in 2026 drove or walked over from somewhere else in town. That will stay true until the apartment building is finished.

Across Brea Mall Road, the Two Big Draws

Life Time Brea sits across Brea Mall Road from Sunset Green and Nordstrom. According to the company's opening announcement, it has an 85,000-square-foot building and another 38,000 square feet of outdoor space on three acres. The amenities include:

• A Beach Club with a leisure pool, waterslides, a six-lane lap pool, cabanas and an outdoor bar
• Five pickleball courts, three indoor and climate-controlled and two outdoors
• A LifeSpa, recovery suites with cold plunge and sauna, and a LifeCafe with a full bar
• A Kids Academy for children from three months to 11 years old
• A free work lounge for members

It's Life Time's 10th club in California, its fourth in Orange County and its seventh at a Simon mall. In the same release, Simon's Sundesh Shah called the opening a milestone in "the continued evolution of Brea Mall as a more dynamic, mixed-use destination." Unlike the Sears store it replaced, Life Time runs on memberships, so the same people come back several times a week.

Din Tai Fung opened at 1401 Brea Mall in a space of about 14,000 square feet, with an open kitchen where diners can watch cooks fold xiao long bao. The Register's preview notes that it is the chain's northernmost Orange County location. The others are at South Coast Plaza, the Downtown Disney District and Irvine Spectrum Center. KTLA reported that the restaurant expected to create more than 400 jobs. Brea residents who used to drive to Costa Mesa or Irvine for soup dumplings now have them at the local mall.

What Hasn't Arrived Yet

Some pieces are still on the way:

• Kalbi Social Club. In March, the Register expected the Korean restaurant to open in summer 2026. As of this fall, Simon's Brea Mall page still lists it as "Opening Soon."
• Holiday programming. Simon's directory lists a Santa Photo Experience as coming soon on the mall's lower level, with no dates posted. No fall or holiday events have been announced for Sunset Green yet.
• AMLI Brea. Permits were issued in January 2026, according to the city's General Plan annual report. Reported targets put pre-leasing in fall 2028 and first move-ins in spring 2029.

How This Plays Out Through 2029

Over the next two-plus years, Sunset Green and the restaurants around it will have as few people living next door as they ever will. The tables, the play spots and the patio seating at Pacific Catch and North Italia were all sized for a block that will eventually hold several hundred households. The Register's columnist also expects more places to eat and shop around Sunset Green in the coming months.

Once AMLI Brea opens, the same acre of green and the same restaurant row will also serve the people living above the parking garage. Until then, the old Sears corner is a public gathering space that the city approved as part of a housing project, and for now it serves Breans who drive or walk in.

Big projects like the Sears redevelopment at Brea Mall affect how buyers see the homes nearby, and the timing affects them too. If you own near the mall and want to know how a park that opened in 2026 and apartments due around 2029 might factor into your home's value, Jacob Klimenko can walk you through it using real comparable sales. You can start with a home valuation, or book a free strategy session and we'll map out the timeline together.