TEJON RANCH, CA—The highly anticipated Outlets at Tejon, a 320,000-square-foot retail center from developers the Rockefeller Group and Tejon Ranch Co., holds its official grand opening tomorrow. The $90 million development is located halfway between Los Angeles and Bakersfield along the 5 freeway.

“It's a perfect location, especially for outlet retail, beginning with a strong and robust residential market,” Barry Zoeller, VP of corporate communications and marketing for Tejon Ranch Co., tells GlobeSt.com. “There are 3.2 million people living within an hour's drive of the Outlets at Tejon, and a tremendous volume of highway traffic that passes the location on Interstate 5—65 million people per year.”

The property sits on 43 acres in Tejon Ranch, which is already known for attracting a wealth of shoppers. According to Zoeller, “Last year alone, more than 14 million people stopped at the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, where the new outlet center is located.  The Tejon Starbucks is the highest volume store in California, and one of the top five performing Starbucks in the nation. Outlet shopping is also big with international tourists, and given its location on California's primary north-south highway, the Outlets at Tejon is perfectly positioned to serve groups traveling from Southern California to places north and vice versa.”

The shopping center will open with 100% occupancy. It has signed leases with 70 retailers at the outlet center, including Polo, H&M, Michael Kors, Nike and California's first Pottery Barn Outlet store. According to Zoeller, demand has been so strong from retailers, the developer has considered a second phase of the development. “When we pull the trigger on that, of course, depends on the level of demand, but we could be looking at opening a phase II before the end of 2015,” he adds. Phase II would potentially be 154,322 square feet, making the whole development a 43-acre, 477,149 square foot property. 

As for the first development phase, Zoeller says it went off without a hitch, saying, “Many outlet industry veterans have told us they haven't seen a project move from concept to execution so quickly—and be embraced by the outlet retail community so readily—as this one.” Developers launched the project in 2012, and the center is opening on time.