A Retail Re-birth in Riverside

New 506,000-sq.-ft. Plaza to Open Later This Year

By Greg Aragon

The name's the same, but everything else about the Riverside Plaza is changing.

The 50-year-old mall in the city's Magnolia Center district is being reincarnated as a 506,000-sq.-ft. of a lifestyle and community shopping district with a variety of stores, restaurants and an 18-screen Signature Theatres cineplex.

The new $30 million venue-owned by Los Angeles-based Litchfield Advisors-is being touted as a shot in the arm to an important section of Riverside. The 130-year-old city of 274,071 is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

"We need more restaurants," Joan Brown, 82, said before she entered the old mall's largest survivor, a Harris/Gottschalks department store, on a clear and mild December day.

Her daughter, Anne Wood, who grew up in the neighborhood but now lives about 30 mi. away, said that besides offering new restaurants, the plaza could give Magnolia Center residents a closer alternative to malls such as Tyler Galleria, about 4 mi. west.

"The Tyler Galleria is too far for people like my mother," Wood said.

Located north of State Route 91 (Riverside Freeway) at Central and Riverside avenues, the plaza sits in the middle of a 500-acre, middle-class neighborhood of generally well-maintained, 50- to 60-year-old homes.

Last year, Riverside performed an economic study on the area and found it to be in a state of financial blight, said Wendy Holland of the Riverside Development Department. With a vacancy rate exceeding 60 percent and a shabby appearance, Riverside Plaza was found to be the central cause.

"[The plaza] was as dead as it could possibly get," said Jim Carlson, vice president of marketing for Anaheim-based Lyle Parks Jr. Inc., the project's general contractor. "It was an underperforming asset that needed to [be demolished] and reinvent itself."

A 55,000-sq.-ft. Vons Market will anchor the commuity shopping district on one corner of the property. Three businesses-Trader Joe's, Washington Mutual bank and Sav-on Drugs-have already opened in that retail district.

Demolition of the former Riverside Plaza (except for the 141,330-sq.-ft. Harris/Gottschalks, Party America and Miry Collection) began in the summer.

Orange-based Architects Orange designed the new project. When it opens in November, it will replicate a suburban downtown and reflect the city's architectural history.

Architect Orange's Darrel Hebenstreit, partner-in-charge of the project, said that the shopping district would feature the richly colored and geometric patterns of the Art Deco era, which is clearly evident in the plaza's entrance tower.

The use of vertical elements such as low-pitched, hipped roofs and tall, narrow windows and cupolas-representative of Spanish/Italianate architecture -will be used throughout.

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An innovative signage program utilizing contemporary and three-dimensional elements is incorporated into the design, and wall sconces and decorative street lighting will also be used, Hebenstreit said.

A heavily landscaped promenade will help to create a "main street" appearance. The promenade will be lined with several fast-food restaurants that offer outdoor seating and several stores. Each storefront will have its own façade to further emphasize the streetscape concept.

Numerous park-like features such as benches, mature trees and shrubs, art installations and fountains will add character to the pedestrian thoroughfare, Hebenstreit said.

The promenade is designed to be reminiscent of Riverside's Magnolia and Victoria avenues, believed to be among the earliest tree-lined boulevards in California. A separate palm grove forms the center of the promenade separating two large public plazas, which will serve as gathering areas for moviegoers and shoppers.

After completing the demolition and grading last month, Lyle Parks and Pico Rivera-based subcontractor A.L. Macintosh, are preparing to erect the theater and the remaining structures.

Rounding out the major players for the Riverside Plaza team are the developer, The Kenney Co. of Newport Beach, Brea-based CST (the demolition and environmental mitigation subcontractor) and leasing agent Pacific Retail Partners of Riverside.

"Bringing back the theater and bringing back the patronage will revitalize the entire area," Riverside's Holland said. "And, from there, we hope to have a domino effect and some of the streets around it will then start redeveloping."