73-Acre, Mixed-Use Plan Unveiled

Rusty Turner, president, says the venture will be one of the largest master-planned business parks in the Western Riverside/Corona market. The first phase of 167,000 sf is planned for completion in February 2004. It will consist of nine freestanding industrial buildings, ranging from 11,500 sf to 20,550 sf, and a multi-tenant commercial building with units of 2,700 sf to 4,900 sf. All buildings and commercial units will be offered for sale or lease.

The developers say the project will be targeted at what they describe as continued demand for industrial and retail space in the region, along with an increasing demand for office space from companies opening regional offices in the Inland Empire, which has outperformed most US office markets throughout the economic downturn.

The RiverWalk development gets its name from a design that will intersperse the office, industrial and retail buildings within a river and several other water features plus extensive landscaping. The project will be next to the 80-year-old La Sierra University, a new housing development planned by Griffin Homes and a 550-unit planned apartment project by Fairfield Communities.

Initially, another developer intended to roll out the project, Turner says. That firm closed its Southern California operations and a new Turner partner, Mike Kendall, brought the deal with him when he joined the firm.

Kendall, who is now a vice president at Turner, says the project will offer the unusual feature of power and water supplied directly by the City of Riverside, one of the few Southern California municipalities that has its own power and water company, providing lower rates than those in other Inland cities. He says those rates for heavy power users in Riverside can run up to 60% percent below comparable rates from Southern California Edison.

Listing agents for the RiverWalk project are Paul Earnhart and Larry Null of Lee & Associates for the industrial space, plus Lee's Dave Mudge and Tom Pierik for the office space.