Eastvale looks to build civic center, commercial and residential project

The development, which will be built on a large parcel in heart of the city if it’s approved as planned, will reshape the young city, according to officials.

 

Twelve years after it incorporated, Eastvale is taking the first steps toward developing a downtown that will include a civic center, as well as commercial and residential development.

The project will be built on 153 acres in the heart of the city. That property is owned by the Leal family, where it once operated a dairy farm, not Eastvale.

Sale of the property to The New Home Company of Irvine, the project’s developer, is being negotiated between those two entities. Eastvale is not soliciting, or accepting, bids from other developers said Community Development Director Gina Gibson-Williams.

“It’s a private transaction, said Gibson-Williams. “The city will have control of the property, but technically this is not a city project.”

Since Eastvale incorporated in 2010, no development has had the potential to change the city [pop. 73,700]  in northwest Riverside County more dramatically. If approved, it will give the city a downtown core with a civic center surrounded by retail and residential development.

“The idea for doing this has been around since about the time the city incorporated, and it’s potentially a game changer,” Mayor Clint Lorimore said. “It’s unusual just to have that much open space in the middle of a city, but to have it surrounded by development is really unique.”

In December 2017, Eastvale adopted the Leal Master Plan, which identified the property as one of the city’s two major undeveloped parcels. Eastvale’s general plan, also adopted at that time, recommend that the city support development on the site and cooperate with the property owner and/or the developer.

“The Leal Master Plan establishes the City’s vision of the site as a major, mixed-use retail, office, housing, and civic development serving Eastvale and the region,” an introduction to a city report states. “The site is intended to accommodate a vibrant mixture of uses, all focused around a regional lifestyle retail center including public spaces that will be interspersed throughout this project.”

If approved, the project will be bordered by 58th Street, Scholar Way, Limonite Avenue and Hamner Avenue. Divided into six parcels, It will include a city hall, library, police station and fire station along with 595,000 square feet of retail and commercial development.

That latter would be enough space to accommodate 70 sit-down restaurants if the property were used exclusively for that purposed, according to a city report.

Development will also include roughly 14 acres of parks and open space, a private recreation complex, office buildings and a hotel. All of that would be surrounded by up to 2,500 residential units.

The project will be built in three phases, with public improvements and infrastructure improvements to be made during construction. An official timeline has not been determined, but it will probably take 10 to 20 years to complete, Lorimore said,.

Eastvale has about $100 million set aside to pay for the civic center. All improvements to the property, including water lines, sewers, roads and street lights, will be paid for by New Home.

Part of the site would allow up to 30 multi-family units per acre.

Eastvale has negotiated a 20-year option for one 10-acre parcel within the project, where the civic center and commercial-retail component will be built. Ultimately, Eastvale will have control of that parcel and whatever else might be developed there, according to the report.

“It’s a has the potential to transform the entire city,” said Peter Carlson, president of Carlson Strategic Land Solutions in San Juan Capistrano, a consulting firm that is working with New Home on the project. “It will give Eastvale what it doesn’t have now, a downtown core.”

Some residents, and several  Eastvale officials, have raised concerns about the project bringing too much residential development to the city.

Like all California cities, Eastvale is required by the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation program to develop more residential units in order to narrow the state’s chronic housing shortage.

In Eastvale’s case, that means building 3,042 units between now and 2029, according to Lorimore.

Eastvale officials are keeping those concerns about too much residential development in mind as they move forward with the project, the mayor said.

“We’re aware of those concerns and we’re taking them seriously,” Lorimore said. “We want to hear all of the feedback we can and study all of the angles. But this is private property, not property owned by Eastvale, so that makes it more difficult.”

The project will ultimately raise property values, according to a question-and-answer fact sheet on the project compiled by the city.

“It’s anticipated that the project will have a positive effect on property values,” the fact sheet states. “Studies have shown that mixed-use development has the highest property tax revenue potential of any land use – residential, commercial, office, industrial – and the highest property values on a per-square-foot basis.

“The values of surrounding properties would likely rise with development of the project.”

Ultimately, Eastvale officials have to deliver what its residents want, according to Lorimore.

“People want work and play in the city they live in,” Lorimore said. “I’ve been hearing that for years. It’s vitally important that we do this right because it will give us a path into the future.”