According to Jim Reuter, Regency Centers vice president ofinvestments, the company acquired the land for the shopping centerin July 2007 with a view toward developing "in one of the area'sbusiest future residential and retail growth corridors." Theintersection of Clinton Keith and Winchester roads provides accessto the Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 freeways, two of theprimary traffic arteries in the Inland Empire. The MurrietaMarketplace project is expected to be constructed in phases and tobe completed in 2010.

The Murrieta Marketplace development is one of a number of newretail projects either under way or recently opened in the InlandEmpire, where developers say that some communities are stillunderserved by retail because of all of the home building thatoccurred over the past five or six years in the Inland Empire—aregion east of Los Angeles that consists of Riverside and and SanBernardino counties and was one of the fastest-growing parts of theUS in recent years.

The start of Murrieta Marketplace follows the recentgroundbreaking for Regency's $70 million Golden Hills Plaza, anearly 300,000-sf shopping center in Paso Robles, CA, about 300miles north of Murrieta. The Golden Hills Plaza center will featureLowe's, Bed, Bath & Beyond and other retailers. Besides the169,112-sf Lowe's and the 25,000-sf Bed, Bath & Beyond, theproperty includes 23 other parcels for lease, according to RegencyCenters. Among the other retailers will be El Pollo Loco, the UPSStore, Sky Nails & Spa, Supercuts and Quiznos.