If it seems that Orange County developers haven’t been as busy locally in the past year, it’s because many are looking to the east.
As scarce land and high prices make projects harder to come by in OC, several developers are keeping themselves busy in the Inland Empire, putting up shopping centers, office buildings and warehouses.
Here’s a look at what some OC developers are doing in the Inland Empire, culled from the pages of the Business Press, a weekly business newspaper in Ontario.
The reporting was done by the Business Press’ Joseph Ascenzi, Carol Park and others at the paper.
Ontario Offices Planned
Lake Forest-based PGP Partners Inc. is planning to build a 50,000-square-foot office project near Ontario International Airport.
PGP Partners, which is working with RREEF Funds LLC on the $100 million project, is putting up the buildings on speculation it can find takers for the space.
Plans call for two four-story and two six-story buildings on a roughly 28-acre site between Turner and Archibald avenues south of Interstate 10.
A hotel and restaurants also are possibilities for the project, which is dubbed Ontario Airport Towers.
PGP bought the land in April for $15 million from Vintage Plaza LLC, an investment partnership with members in OC and Los Angeles.
Construction on the first phase should be finished during the first quarter. The second and final phase is expected to be done by early 2008.
PGP Partners has done other Inland Empire work.
The company recently bought a 16-acre site in Mira Loma, where it plans to develop four industrial buildings ranging in size from 28,000 square feet to 89,000 square feet.
Riverside Office, Industrial, Shops
Turner Development Corp. of Newport Beach has started building a 100,000-square-foot office center in Riverside, part of the Turner Riverwalk project that eventually will bring about 1 million square feet of retail, office and industrial development to the city.
The office project’s first phase, a two-story building and 12 single-story buildings, could wrap up by year’s end. The developer plans to sell the single-story buildings.
Turner Riverwalk could span 73 acres with 500,000 square feet of office, 400,000 square feet of industrial and 100,000 square feet of retail.
The project, which will cost at least $100 million to build, is expected to be finished in four years.
Hopkins Plans Centers
Hopkins Real Estate Group of Irvine is planning two shopping centers in Mira Loma and Menifee Valley’s Sun City, both expected to open late next year.
Earlier this year, Hopkins bought
40 acres near Interstate 15 in Mira Loma and 28 acres near Interstate 215 in Sun City.
Hopkins recently finished leasing The Hub, a 172,000-square-foot shopping center in San Bernardino.
Opus: Mall, Townhomes
The Irvine office of Phoenix-based Opus West Corp. plans to start building the Shoppes at Chino Hills in January, which calls for about 1 million square feet of retail space.
Opus West also plans to build 235 townhomes next to the open-air mall near the Corona Valley (71) Freeway.
Robinsons-May plans to occupy a two-story, 550,000-square-foot building at Shoppes at Chino Hills.
Lake Elsinore Shops
Caliber Retail Properties Group Inc. in Newport Beach plans a 130,000-square-foot shopping center in Lake Elsinore.
Officials with Caliber still are working on plans and tenants for the center. It could include a grocery store, a big electronics retailer and smaller shops.
Construction is expected to start during late 2006 and open about one year later. The project will cost about $30 million to build, according to Caliber.
Mailman’s Kill Devils
He’s not a developer, but we couldn’t resist this one.
Los Angeles Laker Karl “the Mailman” Malone, who’s just put his Newport Beach home up for sale, has backed a Temecula barbecue restaurant.
Malone is a partner in Kill Devils Frozen Custard & Beach Fries restaurant in the Promenade Mall in Temecula.
Malone, who has never owned a restaurant before, owns an undisclosed stake in the restaurant with his manager, Dwight Manley, also of Newport Beach.
Restaurant developers Chris Caves of Newport Beach and Gabriel Damian of Anaheim Hills own the remaining portion of the restaurant.
Malone has been a regular at the Kill Devils in Lake Forest, which opened last year. The original restaurant is in Kill Devils Hill, N.C.
The eatery is known for its North Carolina-style barbecue sandwich, fries and custard.
