Owner of Plaza Banderas Property Describes New Project

The owner of the property that was to become Plaza Banderas Hotel but is now slated to become a retail center told Patch she just couldn’t find a hotel operator favorable to the location.

Here’s what Gretchen Stroscher Thomson had to say about the property, which was approved in 2011 to feature a 124-room boutique hotel along Ortega Highway between Mission San Juan Capistrano and the I-5 Freeway:

The site has not been sold. Stroscher and Joe Goveia, a local developer, have formed a joint venture partnership and are launching a revised project on the Plaza Banderas site.  We are planning a retail center.  Adding a variety of small shops, a store, and a restaurant to the center of town will serve locals and visitors, and bring increased business activity to the downtown area. 

Originally, the Plaza Banderas Project included some retail shops, a restaurant and a hotel.  After several years of discussions with all the major hotel chains and over two dozen individual hotel developers, all who told us it was an ideal location, but did not work financially for them, we changed the plan. We left out the hotel and increased the retail. 

Residents of San Juan Capistrano will find convenient shopping at the new center. It will provide goods and services formerly available only outside San Juan Capistrano. 

We at Stroscher are pleased to be working with Joe Goveia and his team, successful retail developers, and all of us are excited about our project.