While officials from the County of San Bernardino and the City of Ontario were among participants at the event, it was the retail panel that held the attention of many attendees, as they learned how industry experts intend to meet the needs of the area's population explosion. According to one report, the region's population grew by nearly two million since 2000, a number developers and planners are struggling as well as thriving, to keep up with.

Bob Kraus, SVP of advance planning for Empire Commercial moderated the discussion. Panelists included: Don Baker, president and COO of Stater Bros. Markets; Steve Hopkins, president of Hopkins Real Estate Group; David Linden, VP & director of asset management, Lewis Operating Corp.; and Jeff Pintar, national retail partner, Panattoni Development Co.

The region has long been known for its big box developments, with Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot and Lowe's among those in place or with projects underway. However, according to panelists, one of the more interesting recent trends in the area is the influx of high-end retailers to the area.

Linden said the fact that consumers are willing to pay upwards of "600,000 and $700,000 for homes (in the area) tells us they are willing to pay for high end retail." His company has more than four million sf of retail projects, both big box and high-end "on our books" in the Inland Empire, Linden added.

As for Baker, the supermarket guru, he said to eventually look for high-end projects in the High Desert area of the Inland Empire. "I have no idea when (we'll have a high-end project), but I do envision one," Baker added.

Hopkins said one trend he has been tracking, and been involved with, is the proliferation of the "village concept" in the region, with areas having residential developments mixed in with neighborhood retail centers. Pintar agreed that the village concept has begun to take off in the Inland Empire

With land throughout Southern California becoming increasingly difficult to find and construction costs continuing to rise, Hopkins said to look for more creative use of existing land. Not only "site" planning, but "land" planning will take precedence, becoming vital to the economic feasibility of projects, according to Hopkins. He added that the development of environmentally impaired sites, will be necessary to make projects work and to keep up with projected growth patterns.

Conference organizers had predicted around 300 participants and were pleasantly surprised when nearly 400 real estate professionals showed for the all day event. Produced by Real Estate Media, publisher of Real Estate Forum, Real Estate Southern California and GlobeSt.com, the conference featured a keynote address from Southern California economic expert Dr. John Husing.

Other highlights for the conference included a Town Hall Meeting moderated by Jeff Moore, senior managing director with CB Richard Ellis, and a logistics and transportation panel moderated by Sonia Ransom, a partner with Allen Matkins law firm.

Instant Insights /

Inland Empire Near Retail Boom

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