Grocery-Anchored Retail Space in Santa Ana

What to diligence before LOI

1. 01

   Use class: Santa Ana Municipal Code Section 41-365(a) permits retail and service uses by right in the C1 Community Commercial district, Section 41-377(a) carries every C1 use into C2, and Section 41-412 does the same for the C4 Planned Shopping Center district. The exception is hours: a retail market under 20,000 sq ft that is open at any time between midnight and 5:00 a.m. needs a conditional use permit (Sections 41-365.5(h) and 41-412.5(f)). If your concept is a 24-hour or late-night small-format market, budget for that hearing.

2. 02

   Large formats: superstores need a conditional use permit in C1, C2 and C4 (Sections 41-365.5(m), 41-377.5(f), 41-412.5(k)) and are parked at 1 space per 200 sq ft (Section 41-1361). Bulk merchandise stores need a CUP in C2 and C4 and are parked at 8 spaces per 1,000 sq ft (Section 41-1353). Get Planning's written read on which class a warehouse-style or very large grocer falls into before you size the box.

3. 03

   Parking: ordinary retail is 5 spaces per 1,000 sq ft of gross floor area (Section 41-1340), so a 12,160 sq ft store like Bristol Plaza's Trader Joe's carries about 61 required stalls. Section 41-1304(g) also requires cart corrals throughout the lot for uses that rely on shopping carts, which matters on tight infill pads along Bristol and Harbor.

4. 04

   Pad and lot rules in C1: Section 41-373 requires each retail lot to have at least 15,000 sq ft of area and 120 feet of street frontage, and Section 41-372 requires a 15-foot landscaped strip along street frontages. Check both before planning a freestanding grocer or a new pad on a smaller Main Street or Harbor Boulevard parcel.

5. 05

   Bristol Plaza: Brixmor lists 111,403 sq ft, traffic of 40,000+ vehicles a day on Bristol and 35,000+ on MacArthur, and no current availabilities. If you want to be next to the Trader Joe's, register your requirement with Brixmor and ask about upcoming expirations rather than waiting for a listing.

6. 06

   Bristol and Warner: Sprouts lists store 495 at 2311 S. Bristol Street opening October 23, 2026. We did not confirm the center's name or owner, so ask the listing broker for the site plan, the grocer's co-tenancy terms and any restrictions on competing food uses before signing shop space there.