Costa Mesa's planning commission unanimously approved a redevelopment plan for a new Dick's House of Sport at 2200 Harbor Blvd., clearing the conversion of the 90,458-square-foot building most recently occupied by At Home. The 7-0 vote also approved a height variance for portions of the project, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The variance increases the site's allowable height from 30 feet to 50 feet, according to the Los Angeles Times. The additional height would accommodate a prominent entryway and a glass roof over an indoor rock-climbing wall, one of the format's signature features. The entryway and climbing-wall structure would be set back from Harbor Boulevard and nearby College Avenue residences, respectively.
What's Inside the New Store
The planned store would use Dick's House of Sport's experiential format rather than operate solely as a conventional sporting-goods showroom. Plans call for a golf green with simulators, sports cages and an indoor climbing wall, allowing customers to test equipment and use some of the store's features before buying products. Dick's launched the House of Sport concept in New York in 2021.
Don Alexander, vice president of Onyx Creative, represented the applicant at the commission meeting. He said House of Sport locations typically employ 81 to 109 people, compared with 34 to 55 at a standard Dick's Sporting Goods store, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A Vacant Big-Box Finds New Life
The Harbor Boulevard site has sat empty since the former At Home store closed in 2025. At Home filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that year and announced plans to close 26 stores nationwide by Sept. 30, 2025, leaving the Costa Mesa building among the vacancies now getting a second life as sporting-goods retail, per a report from the Los Angeles Times.
What the Site's Traffic and Corridor Context Looks Like
The project would be added to a heavily traveled commercial area. According to Caltrans' 2016 traffic-volume table, State Route 55 at Costa Mesa's Harbor Boulevard location carried an annual average daily traffic of 87,800 vehicles in one direction and 71,700 in the other. The City of Costa Mesa's General Plan Environmental Impact Report identifies Harbor Boulevard as the city's primary commercial corridor, with vehicle-oriented uses, auto dealerships, neighborhood shopping centers, entertainment venues and some residential uses. The planned store would therefore reuse a large retail property within an established, mixed commercial corridor rather than introduce sporting-goods retail into a primarily residential setting.
The approval also raised a broader zoning question. Commissioner Jay Humphrey supported bringing the retailer to Harbor Boulevard but warned that approving an exception could encourage additional departures from the municipal code, which generally limits buildings south of the 405 Freeway to four stories. Commissioners noted that Northgate Market's Mercado Gonzalez and a nearby Home Depot had previously received entitlements allowing heights of up to 50 feet.
What Local Records Show About Height and Access
The city's prior planning record includes other approved building heights south of the I-405 Freeway. A City of Costa Mesa agenda report dated Jan. 23, 2020, listed Baker Block Apartments at 125 E. Baker Street, Vivante at 1640 Monrovia Avenue and Sea House at 1042 W. 18th Street as height precedents. Those examples involved multifamily residential projects, providing context for the city's history of approving heights above the standard limit but not establishing a precedent for this commercial redevelopment, according to City of Costa Mesa records.
For regional transit context, the Orange County Transportation Authority's Route 57 runs between Brea and Newport Beach via State College Boulevard and Bristol Street, according to the OCTA route map. The available route information establishes a broader bus connection in the area but does not specify pedestrian or bicycle facilities at the project address.
Commissioners Push for Greenery and Art
Commissioner Angely Andrade asked whether the applicant could add trees behind the building or a mural to reduce its visual impact. Alexander said he would pass the suggestions along to company representatives, but the commission's approval did not include a finalized commitment for either feature.
Part of a Bigger California Push
Costa Mesa's approval lands amid a broader expansion push for the House of Sport format. Dick's Sporting Goods is bringing the concept into two new markets this year, marking its first entries into California, according to Chain Store Age, which reports the chain's first Golden State location will occupy the 158,000-square-foot former Macy's building at The Valley in San Diego. The outlet also notes Dick's plans to build a House of Sport at the 310-acre Rock Run Collection mixed-use center in Joliet, Illinois, and a 116,000-square-foot location opening later this year at Annapolis Mall in Maryland.
Not every outlet agrees on which California store will be first. ABC30 has reported that Fashion Fair Mall in Fresno is partnering with Dick's Sporting Goods on a House of Sport featuring a rock-climbing wall and soccer, baseball and golf training cages, with construction expected to wrap by the end of 2027 — and that outlet describes the Fresno project, not San Diego's, as the chain's first California location. The competing claims underscore how quickly Dick's is moving on multiple fronts at once; a representative involved in an earlier House of Sport proposal in Strongsville, Ohio, told Cleveland.com the company was in the process of building 100 House of Sport locations across the country. That Ohio project, roughly the size of a former Sears department store, was cleared for a lot split and zoning variances by local officials in June 2024.
No confirmed opening date for the Costa Mesa store has surfaced in available reporting. Reported store size also varies slightly depending on the source: the Los Angeles Times lists the space at 90,458 square feet, while WhatNow has reported a figure closer to 94,058 square feet. Either way, the Harbor Boulevard building is set for a dramatic transformation once construction gets underway.
