Original construction of the shopping center in 1972-3 was a $10 million project of the Robert Tebbe and Southern California Financial corporations on 143 acres of land, an old oil tank farm and several capped oil wells, providing 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of gross leasable area for retail, a cinema and offices, oriented to the adjacent marina.
[1] Long Beach-based Buffums department store moved in as an anchor in 1976, building a two-story, 39,000-square-foot (3,600 m2) store designed by Associated Architects and Planners of Los Angeles, and moving its Marina branch from a smaller adjacent 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) location.
[4] By 1990, the Los Angeles Times characterized Marina Pacifica as an example of "the wrong way to build a mall", a "graveyard", with the staircases too hard to find, lack of a way between shops without traversing the parking lot, vacant storefronts, and a lack of attention.
[9] Club Studio, a new concept of luxury gym run by LA Fitness, has opened in this location since September 2023.
[10] Current tenants include Nordstrom Rack, AMC Theatres, Barnes & Noble, Sit 'n Sleep, Acapulco, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chipotle, Starbucks, Ulta Beauty, Club Studio, and a Ralphs supermarket.