Rain that falls above Big Canyon runs through the golf course, passes under Jamboree Road, crosses Big Canyon Nature Park and ends up in Upper Newport Bay. Every place along that route has been under construction for most of the past year. So has the shopping center that looks out over the ocean from the other side of the hill.
Fashion Island and the nature park have something in common. Each was built facing away from the water, and each is now paying to face it again. The mall's owner uses almost those words. The city's engineers describe their work the same way in the language of tides and salt marsh.
Fashion Island Learned From Its Own Relocation
The best way to see what's happening at Fashion Island is to follow RH. The furniture retailer used to fill a 7,300-square-foot space by the koi pond near Bloomingdale's. In 2024 it moved to a four-story, 97,000-square-foot building at the south end of the center, facing the coast, with RH Ocean Grill inside.
The Irvine Company now calls that move the model for its next project. "The community has responded enthusiastically to the beautiful coastal views and ocean breezes available while dining at RH Ocean Grill, and we will deliver a similar coastal ambiance in a refreshed restaurant space in this area of the center," a Fashion Island spokesperson told the Orange County Business Journal.
That "area of the center" is the ocean-facing row that once held The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's and California Pizza Kitchen. P.F. Chang's closed in August 2026, the last of the three to go. The redevelopment, called the Coastal Overlook for now, is set to start construction this fall. An Irvine Company spokesperson described the design goal plainly: "The renovation will reorient the existing brick-and-mortar space to face the ocean rather than turn its back to it, featuring expansive windows that capture panoramic Pacific views for guests to shop and dine by the coast."
Gerard Widder, Fashion Island's vice president and general manager, told the Business Journal the space would bring "fresh dining and lifestyle concepts that take full advantage of Fashion Island's remarkable location." No tenants have been named. The center ranks second in Orange County by 12-month taxable sales, at $876 million, according to the Business Journal's September 2026 reporting. That gives the Irvine Company room to be patient about who goes into its best view.
What Has Already Opened in 2026
The space RH left didn't stay empty long, and the rest of the center kept filling in while the ocean-facing row went dark.
| Arrival | Where at Fashion Island | Opened | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ralph Lauren and Ralph's Coffee | Former RH space by the koi pond, near Bloomingdale's | January 2026 | First Ralph's Coffee in California, one of nine in North America |
| Telefèric Barcelona | Former Hopdoddy Burger space | Aug. 20, 2026 | First Orange County location for siblings Maria and Xavi Padrosa |
| Levain Bakery | Macy's side, near Barnes & Noble and Starbucks | Sept. 4, 2026 | First Orange County shop and fourth in California, after Venice and Beverly Hills |
| Farm Rio, Garage, Jones Road | Not yet announced | Listed as "opening soon" | No dates published |
Telefèric's owners told the Business Journal that Orange County "in many ways, it reminded us of Barcelona." Visit Newport Beach now lists the restaurant as open at the center. Levain, the New York bakery Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald founded in 1995, is known for six-ounce cookies. The Business Journal reported long lines on its opening weekend.
So the newest openings cluster on the Macy's side and around the koi pond, while the ocean-facing edge is fenced for construction. For the rest of this fall, the center's biggest change will be the part that's closed.
Below Jamboree, the Canyon Is Getting Its Tide Back
Big Canyon Nature Park ended up turned away from the bay through a different history. In the 1950s and 1960s, dredge fill was piled inside Big Canyon Creek. That raised the ground and pushed the creek into a channel along the north side of the canyon, according to the Newport Bay Conservancy. The Conservancy calls the canyon the largest remaining natural canyon on the east side of Newport Bay. The park's roughly 60 acres sit at the bottom of a 1,300-acre watershed that drains straight into the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.
The city has been undoing that history in phases since 2016. Assistant City Engineer Bob Stein told the Orange County Register the goal is to return the park to how it might have looked 100 years ago.
- Phase 1, completed in 2017, restored six acres near Jamboree Road. It removed selenium contamination from the creek and captured pollutants from stormwater runoff.
- Phase 2, finished in 2021, restored 11 acres in the middle of the park. Native habitat replaced a dense canopy of invasive Brazilian pepper trees.
- Phase 3, the final phase, covers 13.8 acres east of Back Bay Drive. Crews are reshaping the land into a tidal estuary and salt marsh like the one that was there historically, restoring tidal flow between Big Canyon Creek and the bay.
City Council approved a $5.2 million Phase 3 contract with Superb Engineering, Inc., in August 2025. The Newport Bay Conservancy secured more than $7 million in state grants that the city says cover all of the construction costs. The Conservancy also describes a longer-term reason for the design. Phase 3 brings saltwater farther into the site and creates transitional zones, so the salt marsh can move uphill as sea levels rise.
By February 2026, the city reported the last dense stand of Brazilian pepper trees was gone. Reeds had been cleared from a mosquito-infested freshwater pond, and grading for the estuary had begun ahead of native planting. That update put completion at summer 2026. "This next phase is the most exciting and important," Stein told the Register before work started.
The Course Upstream Sits on the Same Creek
Between the new marsh and the mall is Big Canyon Country Club, the private, member-owned club that opened for play in 1971. Its 2025 renovation filing with the city describes the course as the middle section of the Big Canyon Wash watershed. Water from higher up passes through the course in channels and pipes before it drains under Jamboree Road into the nature park. That makes the course the stretch of creek just upstream of the estuary the city is rebuilding.
The course work was designed around that position. The filing lists three goals:
- Replace an irrigation system near the end of its useful life with EPA WaterSense smart controllers. The controllers schedule watering from weather or soil-moisture data, and the new system is expected to use less water than the current course.
- Correct minor drainage problems without changing where offsite water enters the property, how much enters and leaves, or where it exits.
- Redesign the fairways, roughs, sand traps and greens while the course was closed anyway.
The scale was bigger than a typical refresh. The plan called for about 200,000 cubic yards of cut and fill, all balanced on site. Crews would remove mostly ornamental, non-native trees and then replant a similar number after grading. Greens were to be seeded and fairways laid with pre-grown turf. The club now says the course "was restored by Andrew Green" in 2026. The club calls Green "one of the industry's most respected and sought-after restoration specialists." The club hasn't published any detail on individual holes.
What to Check Before Heading Out This Fall
The mall has published dates. The course and the park have published estimates, and those estimates have now passed.
- Big Canyon Nature Park trails. The Newport Bay Conservancy posted that all through-trails from the Back Bay Drive parking lot to Jamboree were closed "until likely the end of August 2026." Back Bay Drive and the Big Canyon parking lot stayed open. As of late September 2026, neither the city nor the Conservancy has announced that the trails have reopened. Check the posted signs before planning a loop to Jamboree.
- The golf course. The filing expected the course to close Aug. 4, 2025, finish grading and irrigation by early spring 2026, and reopen around August 2026, "depending on the weather during the grow-in period." The club has confirmed the restoration took place but hasn't posted a public reopening date. Members get course status directly from the club.
- The Coastal Overlook. Construction starts this fall, and no restaurant tenants or opening date have been announced. The open places listed in the table above are all away from that construction.
The Big Canyon clubhouse isn't part of any of this. The club says its 70,000-square-foot clubhouse was rebuilt in 2009.
A new ocean-facing restaurant row and a restored salt marsh are both going in right next to Big Canyon. If you're a Big Canyon owner weighing how these projects affect your own plans, Brian Liberto can walk you through what's changing next door and what it could mean for your home. Let's Connect.
