By JOSEPH ASCENZI
Construction has begun on what will be one of the largest office complexes in the Inland Empire.
Ontario Airport Towers is being built on a 28-acre site on next to San Bernardino (I-10) Freeway, said J.R. Wetzel, managing partner with developer PGP Partners Inc. of Lake Forest.
PGP Partners is developing the $135 million project with pension fund manager RREEF Funds LLC. They’re putting up the first building in the planned complex on speculation they’ll land tenants for the space.
Ultimately, Ontario Airport Towers could cover more than 900,000 square feet. Some 4,000 people could work there, according to Wetzel.
CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s Ontario office is marketing Ontario Airport Towers, which is set to consist of at least three office buildings covering about 450,000 square feet.
“But we could add another three buildings that would cover another 500,000 square feet,” Wetzel said. “It depends on how the leasing goes.”
Ontario Mayor Paul S. Leon and City Manager Greg Devereaux attended the August groundbreaking for the first building, a six-story tower that will cover about 150,000 square feet.
The first building is expected to be finished by July. If the building is at least 30% to 40% leased by then, construction will begin on the second building, according to Wetzel.
Ontario Airport Towers aims to land at least one corporate headquarters, something Riverside and San Bernardino counties have had difficulty doing despite their population growth over the past decade.
“That’s our No. 1 goal,” Wetzel said. “We expect to sign our share of accountants and attorneys. But we expect Corporate America,even international corporate clients,to sign on. We’re going to get (companies) that everyone has heard of.”
Corporate clients might lease at Ontario Airport Towers because it’s within two miles of Ontario International Airport, Wetzel said.
“More corporations know that they can’t just locate in Los Angeles or Orange County,” Wetzel said. “They want to be in the Inland Empire because so many of their employees live there. They also like being close to airports, and Ontario (International) is nice because you don’t have the resistance to expansion there that you have at Los Angeles, Long Beach and John Wayne Airport.”
Two retail buildings, one 6,000 square feet and the other 4,000 square feet, also are planned for the site.
Space at Ontario Airport Towers is set to lease for around $2.65 a square foot per month, said Natalie Bazarevitsch, first vice president with CB Richard Ellis.
That’s on par with the average rent for office space in OC, though below rates for the newest and best buildings here.
Plans call for a $10 million, 2,400-foot extension of Guasti Avenue through the Ontario Airport Towers site that will be paid for by PGP Partners, Bazarevitsch said.
“When that happens it will really open the floodgates to traffic and the whole project will take off,” said Bazarevitsch.
Tri-City Corporate Center in San Bernardino is the largest office complex in the Inland Empire, with 2 million square feet of leasable space.
Ascenzi is a staff writer with the Business Press in San Bernardino.
