If you've driven past Buena Park Downtown in the last few months and noticed the fenced-off lot where Sears used to sit finally showing real machinery, you're not imagining a sudden change. You're watching the tail end of a timeline that started nearly three years ago. And if you've also caught wind of a second, much newer approval a few miles away on Beach Boulevard, it's worth understanding exactly how long "approved" actually takes to become "built" in this city, because the two timelines tell a more useful story together than either one does alone.
The gap between "approved" and "visible"
The Village at Buena Park, the 1,302-unit apartment and townhome project replacing the old Sears store at Buena Park Downtown, got its City Council approval on June 27, 2023. Merlone Geier Partners, the developer, had closed on the Sears property back in 2021 as part of a series of acquisitions across the mall site, according to the Orange County Business Journal.
None of that showed up as visible change on the ground. The Krikorian Metroplex, the multiplex that anchored the mall's entertainment side, didn't close until January 2026, roughly two and a half years after the project was approved. Demolition of the Sears building itself wasn't documented as underway until March 2026, which puts the real gap between council vote and dirt moving at just under three years.
That matters right now because a second project just cleared the same approval step, and the instinct is to assume it will move faster.
What's actually rising at La Palma and Stanton
The Village at Buena Park sits on 25 acres at the corner of La Palma and Stanton, subdivided into six separate lots so the project can be built in phases rather than all at once. The plan calls for 1,176 apartment units and 126 for-sale townhomes, with building heights ranging from three to seven stories. About 176 of the apartment units are deed-restricted affordable housing, roughly 15 percent of the total, a detail confirmed both by OCBJ's reporting and by the project's own public FAQ.
The mall's main entrance on La Palma Avenue is set to expand as part of the build, which means the traffic pattern around that corner will keep shifting as different lots come online. If you've noticed detours or reconfigured turn lanes near the mall this year, that's the entrance work, not a temporary fix.
One thing that hasn't been resolved: the farmers market that used to run on the Sears lot lost its space when demolition started, and no replacement site has been confirmed. If you relied on that market, it's worth checking before you plan around it returning anywhere near its old spot.
The new approval on Beach Boulevard
On June 23, 2026, the Buena Park City Council unanimously approved a very different project a few miles away. Shopoff Realty Investments, which bought the 14-acre Amway Nutrilite training campus at 5600 Beach Boulevard for $60 million in February 2025, will clear roughly 370,000 square feet of industrial space to build 231 townhomes and duplex units alongside 50 senior affordable apartments, for a total of 281 homes.
The site sits on a triangular parcel a short distance from the Buena Park Metrolink station, and Urbanize LA reports that architecture firm KTGY is designing the project. The 50 senior units are what unlocked a density bonus for the developer without requiring more land, according to Hoodline's coverage of the hearing, which is why a site that currently holds one corporate training campus is set to hold nearly 300 homes instead.
None of that changes what you'll actually see this year. Amway is staying put through the end of 2026 under the terms of the deal, and Hoodline's reporting puts the first completed homes somewhere between 2029 and 2030, once Shopoff hands the site to a homebuilder. Labor representatives pushed for local hiring commitments at the hearing, and the plan drew support from the Orange County Business Council and People for Housing OC, but city approval is not the same as a groundbreaking, and building permits and grading sign-offs still have to happen first.
Here's how the two timelines line up side by side:
| Milestone | Village at Buena Park (Sears site) | 5600 Beach Blvd (Amway site) |
|---|---|---|
| Site acquired | Merlone Geier's purchase closed in 2021 | Shopoff bought the site in February 2025 for $60 million |
| City Council approval | June 27, 2023 | June 23, 2026 |
| First visible ground activity | Demolition confirmed by March 2026 | Amway remains operating through the end of 2026 |
| Expected homes ready | Multi-year phased build, still underway | Not expected until 2029 to 2030 |
Read that table as a pattern rather than two separate stories. Both projects took, or are projected to take, close to three years to go from a council vote to something a resident would actually notice happening on-site. If the Beach Boulevard project follows the same rhythm as the Sears site, you shouldn't expect to see machinery there before sometime in 2027 at the earliest, and Amway's own lease terms already confirm nothing changes there this year regardless.
So what changes for you between now and then
For anyone who lives near Buena Park Downtown, the practical takeaway is that construction-related disruption around La Palma and Stanton is likely to continue for a while yet, since the project is being built in six separate phases rather than as one push. Expect the entrance reconfiguration to keep evolving and don't count on the farmers market returning to its old footprint without a new announcement.
For anyone near Beach Boulevard and the Metrolink station, the practical takeaway is close to the opposite: nothing about your daily route or parking situation changes this year. Amway's continued operation through the end of 2026 means the site will look the same for a while, even with the approval now finalized.
On the dining side, there's smaller-scale movement worth watching. Popping Yolk Cafe, a brunch concept, confirmed a new franchise agreement for a Buena Park location in June 2026, though the company told WhatNow that a specific site hadn't been finalized yet. It's a small signal, but it lines up with something the founder pointed to directly: Buena Park's mix of year-round residents and steady tourism traffic from nearby attractions makes it a market franchise operators keep circling back to.
None of this is a reason to rush a decision about your own street or your own home. It's a reason to trust the timeline you can actually verify over the one implied by a headline. Two unrelated developers, working through two unrelated approval processes, have both landed on roughly the same three-year gap between paperwork and visible progress. That's not a coincidence worth ignoring if you're trying to plan around either site over the next few years.
If you're curious how either project might touch your specific block, whether that's the value of a home near the coming Village phases or a property closer to the Beach Boulevard site, the Jin Hong Team keeps an eye on exactly this kind of local movement. Reach out any time you want a straight read on what's actually changing near you, starting with a free home valuation that accounts for what's coming, not just what's already built.
