Retail project underway in San Jacinto

The San Jacinto City Council has approved the first phase of a long-anticipated shopping center in the city.

Circle K Stores Inc. will build a 4,500-square-foot convenience store at the northwest corner of Sanderson and Esplanade avenues, said Sharon Paisley, the city’s development director.

Council members approved the store, which will be the the first of its kind on the west side of the city, Nov. 5.

Cost of the project was not available.

The store, which will include a Mobil service station and a self-serve car wash, will be the first phase of Esplanade Commons, a 90,000-square-foot mixed-use shopping center that will likely be anchored by a grocery store.

“This is something the city has needed for a long time,” said Paisley, who called the Circle K the “lynchpin” of the project. “We have a Walmart and a couple of sit-down restaurants, but nothing like this.”

Southland Development Co. in San Juan Capistrano is developing the project, which will be a combination of large retail, specialty shops and restaurants. The main goal is to land some sit-down restaurants.

No deals have been signed, but Southland Development is negotiating with several possible tenants, Paisley said.

The Circle K store, the first of its kind in Southern California, will serve as a prototype for future Circle K stores in the state. It’s expected to break ground during the first quarter of next year and be ready for business by next summer.

San Jacinto city staff and Southland Development officials have been negotiating for several years about developing the shopping center, which the city needs so its residents can shop in their own city.

“We lose a lot of sales tax revenue to Hemet and Temecula,” Paisley said. “It seems like 98 percent of the restaurants in this area are in Hemet, which is south of us, and a lot of retail is in Temecula.”

Like a lot of Inland Empire cities, San Jacinto had several retail projects in the pipeline before the recession hit.

“All of that came to a screeching halt,” Paisley said.