New Whole Foods Concept to Come to Inland Empire

Sycamore Hills, the master-planned community under construction in Upland, will be the home of the first 365 by Whole Foods Market in the Inland Empire.

The 30,000-square-foot store will be a smaller version of a regular Whole Foods Market location, according to a statement by CBRE Group Inc., which is in charge of retail leasing for Sycamore Hills.

The store will be part of Sycamore Hills Plaza, Sycamore Hills’ 80,000-square-foot retail component.

Sycamore Hills is being developed at the Foothill Freeway and Baseline Road next to the Claremont border. The project will include a 325-home community, the retail center and space for a regional park that would cover 40 acres, according to the statement.

Construction on the project, which is being developed by GPI Cos. in Los Angeles and LStar Communities in Raleigh, N.C., began this month.

“The start of construction at Sycamore Hills signals the strength of the market in this part of the Inland Empire,” said T.R. Gregory, senior vice president with GPI, in the statement. “It is a strong endorsement that Whole Foods Markets has chosen to open one of its first 365 Whole Foods Markets here.”

Whole Foods Markets is based in Austin, Texas. It employs an estimated 91,000 people and operates more than 430 stores in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, according to the company’s website.

Whole Foods Markets plans to open the first 365 by Whole Foods Markets in the greater Los Angeles market – which will be the new concept’s first U.S. stores – by the end of 2017.

The number of people who will work at the Upland store was not available.