Hodgdon Group Completes 13th Retail Project for Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Laguna Hills

April 20, 2012 - PRLog -- LAGUNA HILLS, CALIF. – The Hodgdon Group, a full-service real estate brokerage, development and construction firm, announced today that it has completed construction on the conversion of the Circuit City building in Laguna Hills, Calif., for the grand opening of an Ashley Furniture HomeStore on Friday, April 20.

Located at 24001 El Toro Road,  the former Circuit City building was expanded to make way for a fully-remodeled 51,000-square-foot retail building, which includes the new 33,000-square-foot Ashley Furniture HomeStore plus Total Wine & More in the remaining 18,000 square feet. A 4,000-square-foot Chick-fil-A restaurant with a drive-thru will be located on an outparcel. Total Wine & More and Chick-fil-A are expected to open early summer. Greg James and Chris Lee of Nadel are the project architects.

Hodgdon Group is serving as the fee developer, handling all entitlements and City approvals for the project, contractor and master leasing broker for the redevelopment project. Hodgdon-Miank Construction is serving as the design-build contractor for the development project, Ashley Furniture and Total Wine & More. This is the 13th Ashley HomeStore, which has been completed by the Hodgdon Group. This project represents one of the larger retail redevelopment projects in Orange County.  

According to Aaron Hodgdon, president of Hodgdon Group, Ashley Furniture and Total Wine & More building has been constructed to be energy efficient including a cool white roof, energy efficient HVAC, low e-glass, and a high performance building envelope. The center also features drought tolerant landscape, bio swales and the creation of an on-site drainage system to filter the storm water.  

“It is has been a great opportunity for the Hodgdon Group to take this project from the initial concept and provide the multiple functions to drive it to completion. The wide array of services that we provide, including construction is unique," said Hodgdon. "This project is a key focus for our team and it is being managed by our Executive Vice President, David Miank and on-site Senior Project Manager Dan Waller."

Hodgdon Group worked with Scott Kaplan of CBRE national retail practice and local market experts Tim and Justin McMahon, located in CBRE's Newport Beach office, in the lease transactions with Total Wine & More and Chick-fil-A. Scott Riddles of CBRE, also based in Newport Beach, represented Total Wine & More. John Rootlieb of Main & Main of Santa Monica represented Chick-fil-A.

The Hodgdon companies have been working with Ashley for over a decade on various real estate and construction projects. The Hodgdon Group recently completed construction on the conversion of the former Levitz building at Northridge Fashion Center in Northridge, Calif., for the opening of an Ashley Furniture HomeStore. Hodgdon-Miank Construction also served as the full-service design-build contractor for this project.  

About the Hodgdon Group
The Hodgdon Group is a full-service brokerage, development, construction and project management company. The firm's portfolio of experience includes a wide range of retail, office, industrial and residential projects totaling more than 1,000 acres with complex entitlements, development and incentive agreements and extensive coordination with State and Federal agencies. For more information please visit www.hodgdongroup.com or call Aaron Hodgdon at 909.783.3020.