Inland Empire Market Report

Rialto Official: It's Our Time to Grow

 

As the population surge in the Inland Empire continues, so does activity in the construction industry. And it's not all single-family housing, retail and industrial buildings. Cultural centers, hotels and apartments are in on the action.

A Holiday Inn Express was one of three hotels under construction in September at the northeast intersection of Milliken Avenue and Fourth Street in Rancho Cucamonga.(photo by Paul Napolitano)

Not long ago, the Inland Empire was a vast, undeveloped desert in the backyard shadows of busier California counties such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange.

Things changed quickly.

In California last year, only Los Angeles County had a larger population increase than Riverside County. Combined with neighboring San Bernardino County, the Inland Empire is home to 3.8 million people and 34 incorporated cities in 27,000 sq. mi.

"The Inland Empire is the economic driver for Southern California because of the availability of land and our proximity to the ports," said Greg Lantz, economic development manager with the city of Rialto.

"People are relocating here because there is no other space or land available closer in. It is our time to grow."

John Husing, president of Redlands-based Economics and Politics Inc., an economic research firm that studies the Inland Empire, said the dramatic increase in population is creating a variety of opportunities for the construction industry.

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"It's getting very hard for companies to serve this area from offices in L.A., Orange County and San Diego, so you are beginning to see companies that are population serving, or companies that serve other companies, migrating to this region," Husing said. "And this has driven [growth] in all other sectors of the Inland Empire."

Husing, who has studied the Inland Empire since 1964, said that last year the Inland Empire had $12.9 billion in total permit valuation. He said he expects this year's total to exceed last year's.

As the region matures, the choice of amenities and attractions increase. Two museums are being built in Hemet, a glamorous cultural center in Rancho Cucamonga is under construction and a grand learning resource center is about to begin construction in Fontana.

As large parcels of land for single-family housing become increasingly rare in the western part of the Inland Empire, developers are building upscale apartment communities like these in Rancho Cucamonga (photo by Paul Napolitano).

Two of the hottest markets are industrial and office. As of the second quarter of this year, there was 1.4 million sq. ft. of office construction and about 19.6 million sq. ft. of industrial construction under way in the region, according to the Ontario office of Grubb & Ellis.

The burgeoning office market has fueled growth in the short-stay hospitality market. In Rancho Cucamonga alone, three hotels--a Holiday Inn Express, Towne Centre by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott are being built side by side.

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