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More than 40 years after it incorporated, Moreno Valley has taken a major step toward getting a downtown for the first time.
The city council this month voted 5-0 to develop Town Center at Moreno Valley, which will be built on nearly 70 acres, according to a city staff report.
It will include up to 800 residential units, 106,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, a 106-room hotel and 20,000 square feet of restaurant space. The project also sets aside 30,000 square feet for a civic center, and five acres for public parks.
One hundred of the residential units will be affordable housing.
The property is bordered by Cottonwood Avenue to the north, Alessandro Avenue to the south, Nason Street to the east, and residential and vacant land to the west.
The project site is divided in half by Bay Avenue, which runs east-west.
In addition to the residential and retail elements the project site will accommodate a 40,000-square-foot civic center and five acres or parks. It will also have five acres of open space.
Cost of the project, a construction timeline and a possible opening date, have not been determined.
Lewis Acquisition Co., a division of the Lewis Group of Cos. in Upland, will build the project. Lewis Group is one of the largest developers of destination shopping centers in Southern California. It’s major Inland Empire retail-commercial development includes The Preserve in Chino, Park Place Ontario, Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga and the The Resort, also in Rancho Cucamonga.
Town Center at Moreno Valley will be a destination for residents and visitors to live, work, and shop. It will generate sales tax and transient occupancy tax revenue that will help pay for multiple municipal services, the report states.
Developing Town Center at Moreno will fill in a large open space in the middle of the Moreno Valley, a site city officials believe is ideal for major commercial development. It will also create a gathering place for residents and visitors, and provide the city with a better mix of housing options, according to the report.
“This project represents a major step in the city’s vision for a downtown mixed-use center,” said Angelica Frausto-Lupo, Moreno Valley’s community development director, during the June 3 council meeting. “The idea is to create a walkable downtown urban environment that creates a sense of space, and that serves both residents and visitors.”
Moreno Valley bought the vacant site in 1985, the year after it became a city. Its goal was to make that site home to the city’s civic center, but that facility ended up being built where it is now, at 14075 Frederick St.
In 2015, a city study identified the site as a suitable location for a town center, one that would include commercial and residential development and public gathering spaces. In 2019, the city began looking for a developer that would provide “innovative proposals” for the property, Frausto-Lupo said.
The project’s housing plans are crucial because, like all California cities, Moreno Valley must build a certain number of residential units or risk losing state aid.
State law requires that at least 15 percent of the housing be affordable, meaning it must be priced so that a family would have to spend no more than 30 percent of its gross monthly income on housing costs.
City staff reached an agreement with the state Housing and Community Development Department to include at least 100 affordable housing units in Town Center at Moreno Valley, all of which will be built on the same parcel, City Manager Brian Mohan told the council.
The project was originally expected to be completed this year, but the pandemic put those plans on hold. A Riverside Superior Court ruling that Moreno Valley’s MoVal 2024 General Plan – which spelled out the city’s guidelines for economic development – violated state environmental laws also caused delays.
The Lewis Group was selected to be the project’s developer in 2020, and it’s pleased to finally be getting started, said Joseph Edwards, the Upland-based company’s regional vice president of planned communities.
“It’s our goal to create a mixed-use destination in Moreno Valley that offers a landmark place for the community, a mixed-use project that will create economic opportunity for the city, a friendly environment where people can work, shop and play,” Edwards told the council. “We’re excited to be doing that.
“This project will bring great economic development to Moreno Valley.”
Besides being a future economic catalyst for the city, Town Center at Moreno Valley will provide a good blend of affordable and regular-priced housing, according Mayor Ulises Cabrera.
“I wish this had been built sooner, but things happen,” Cabrera said before casting his vote in favor of the project, which no one attending the meeting spoke against. “We’ve all shopped at Victoria Gardens, and we’re finally going to have something like that in Moreno Valley. I want to see this it gets built. I want to see sticks in the ground.”
Longtime Moreno Valley resident Donovan Saadiq echoed that sentiment.
“Finally, we have something for the citizens of Moreno Valley, not just the business owners,” Saadiq told the council. “This project has parks, it has a civic center, it has retail, and it has jobs, I almost feel like I’m in Orange County, this project is so good.”
Every element of Town Center at Moreno Valley represents something the city needs, Councilman Erlan Gonzalez said.
“We need restaurants, we need shopping, and we need some night life,” Gonzalez said. “This will be a catalyst for different things on the east side or Moreno Valley. It’s a great project and a great opportunity.”
