Meredith property in Ontario might finally see some action

An Orange County developer wants to put light industrial buildings on the parcel next to Interstate 10 near Vineyard Avenue. The land, which is privately owned, is a commercial developer’s dream, but it’s been vacant for more than 50 years.

The largest parcel of undeveloped commercial property in the Inland Empire might not be undeveloped for much longer.

Irvine-based Sares-Regis is buying 150 acres of the Meredith Property in Ontario, a 250-acre parcel north of Interstate 10 at Vineyard Avenue. The land has been owned by the Meredith Family Trust in Tustin for more than 50 years, but nothing has ever been built there.

That, however, might soon change.

Sares-Regis wants to build light industrial buildings on the site. Company officials claim their project will create more than 5,000 jobs and generate about $85 million in revenue for Ontario during the next 20 years, said Scott Murphy, the city’ planning director.

Once it secures the land, all the company needs is an amendment to the site’s specific plan, as the property – unquestionably the largest and most valuable undeveloped commercial parcel in the Inland Empire, if not all of Southern California – is zoned for high-density office, retail and residential.

The planning commission is scheduled to discuss the proposal March 19, but given the size and long-term importance of the parcel, the city council will have the final say regarding what is developed there.

Should Sares-Regis obtain the land and the project is eventually approved, the remaining 100 acres – most of which bumps up against the freeway – will keep its mixed-use designation, Murphy said.

The developer hopes to break ground this summer, with the first tenant expected to move during the summer of 2016. The size of the buildings, and how many will be built, has not been determined.

Sares-Regis first submitted plans for the project in October 2013. An environmental impact report is being conducted, and the project will feature several environmental factors, including solar panels on the buildings, bicycle paths and landscaping that can survive a drought.

Ontario officials have already determined one thing: despite its size, the project won’t add to traffic on the freeway, Vineyard Avenue or Fourth Street. The latter is immediately north of the Meredith property.

“It won’t help, but it won’t make things worse,” Murphy said. “It won’t create any new problems, and that’s the most important thing.”

Should the Sares-Regis project ultimately happen, it would end years of speculation regarding what might be built on one of the largest privately owned pieces of commercial property in Southern California.

It would also mark a significant departure from what the city has long intended for the site, which appears to be ready for development almost immediately: in near-pristine condition, and seemingly as level as a pool table in most places.

When Greg Devereaux, currently San Bernardino County’s chief executive officer, was Ontario’s city manager, he was specific about what he believed should, and should not, be built on the Meredith Property.

The site, Devereaux said, should be a mix of Class-A office buildings, high-end restaurants, retail and residential. It could also accommodate a transportation hub for the Gold Line, the light-rail system that is expected to reach Azusa next year and will then be extended into the Inland Empire.

Above all, the property should not have any industrial development. Ontario already has more than its share of industrial in virtually every other part of the city, and it’s certain to absorb more during the next 20 to 30 years, Devereaux said.

Ideally, the Meredith site would evolve into a smaller version of Century City, a landmark that would be the unofficial gateway to the Inland Empire, according to Ontario’s one-time top executive.

“I really believe it has that much potential, but it should be more than just commercial development,” Devereaux said in a 2012 interview, two years after he left Ontario to take the job with San Bernardino County. “It should be a destination, a downtown for the whole Inland Empire.”

Office buildings were to be the anchor of whatever was built on the Meredith site, and it’s possible that something would have been built there by 2012 if the recession hadn’t stopped all office development in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Unfortunately, while the Inland economy is on the mend, the office submarket is recovering at a much slower pace.

Office vacancy in the two-county region was 15.2 percent at the end of 2014, according to Daum Commercial Real Estate. That means there won’t be any office construction before the bulk of that space is filled.

Because the office market is not likely to come back soon, it makes sense to put some industrial on the Meredith property, especially since the project will create jobs and generate revenue, Murphy said.

At least one veteran Inland commercial broker agrees with that approach, saying it’s long past time that something be developed on the site.

“I think it’s the smart thing to do right now, particularly because they’re going to save 100 acres for mixed-use,” said Carol Plowman, founding principal with Lee & Associates Ontario.

Plowman has been brokering eight acres of the Meredith property near the freeway for several years, but because the property is privately owned it’s been impossible to close a deal.

“It generates a lot of interest,” Plowman said. “We get calls, but never any activity. Nothing ever gets built.”

Sares-Regis may have found one industrial tenant that is driving its proposed project, Plowman said.

“This is a change from what the city has always said it wanted to do with that land,” Plowman said. “I’m speculating, but I have to think there is one tenant driving this.”

Patrick Russell, senior vice president of commercial development for Sares-Regis, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

City officials are probably correct to change direction on the Meredith property given the state of the economy, said Steve Eckerson, chairman of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and general manager of Citizens Business Bank Arena.

“They’re keeping the idea of putting mixed-use on the property, which is important,” Eckerson said. “That will happen eventually.”