$34M Retail Project Breaks Ground

Gary Van Osdel, executive director of the city's economic development agency, tells GlobeSt.com the price tag is about $34 million for the project, which is being developed via a public-private partnership involving the city, Hopkins and the economic development agency.

The center will be anchored by a Sam's Club, which is slated to open in September. It is being built on an in-fill site assembled from nearly 60 parcels in a collaboration between Hopkins and the economic development agency. The project will include a new street, Harriman Place, that the city deemed necessary to improve traffic flow.

Fred Stemmler, a partner at Hopkins, notes that the Hub's 250,000 sf will join more than one million sf of existing nearby retail space, office buildings and hotels. "Our project will complement what is already there," Stemmler tells GlobeSt.com.

The existing retail development includes Costco, Staples, Best Buy, Sportmart, Home Depot, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Office Depot and PetsMart. The Hub will be about a block from a restaurant row with more than 35 eateries, many of which say they've achieved record sales at the San Bernardino location.

Stemmler cited a city report stating that San Bernardino County remains one of America's fastest growing areas, having increased in population from 1.7 million to 2.4 million since 1990, up 700,000 people or 38.7%.

Hopkins says his company is in lease discussions with two national hotel chains and two health clubs chains as well as financial institutions, and local and national restaurant operators.

The project's designer is Perkowitz + Ruth Architects of Long Beach, with Heil Construction of Monrovia, CA as the general contractor. The Ontario office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. is handling marketing and leasing for the development, which is one of 12 California projects now under development by Hopkins.