SB County Retail on the Rise

More than one million square feet of retail development is being planned or is under construction in San Bernardino County, the county reported Monday.

A stronger economy, better housing and population growth – San Bernardino County has gone from 2,121,088 residents last year to 2,139,570 residents this year, an increase of 0.9 percent – means the region has more retail projects in the pipeline than it’s had in recent years, according to county officials.

Several major retail projects that either opened recently or are under construction within the county include:

• Mountain Grove in Redlands, a 67-acre development, the first phase of which opened last December

• Epicenter Rancho Cucamonga, a 50,000-square-foot project that is scheduled to open late this year

• Renaissance Marketplace Retail Center in Rialto, a 500,000-square-foot development that is scheduled start construction next March and open one year later

• Redlands Packinghouse District, a 150,000-square-feet restaurant retail project that was announced recently. It will serve as a gateway into downtown Redlands

The county cited data from CBRE Group Inc.’s recently released second quarter report on the Inland Empire retail market, which noted that the region’s retail vacancy rate dropped to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, one of the lowest rates since recession began in 2008.