Top Stories of 2013

Industrial market carried the Inland Empire in 2013
UC Riverside Medical School, decline in housing foreclosures were among the other major Inland Empire business stories last year, which saw the region continue its slow but steady recovery from the recession

A booming industrial market, a first-ever medical school, a drop in home foreclosures and major changes at the region’s major daily newspaper were among the top Inland Empire business stories in 2013.

The industrial sector continued to dominate the Inland real estate market during 2013, led by “big-box” projects of 500,000 square feet and larger.

About 60 million square feet of speculative industrial space was under construction in Riverside and San Bernardino counties as 2013 drew to a close, according to the Inland chapter of NAIOP, the national commercial real estate trade association.

In October, amazon.com announced it will build a fulfillment center in Moreno Valley that will cover 1.2 million square feet, slightly larger than the one million square foot fulfillment center the retail giant operates in San Bernardino that employs 1,400 people.

Fulfillment centers are hi-tech operations designed to deliver orders immediately, and they’re only going to become more prominent in the Inland Empire, according to one of the region’s leading industrial broker

“That trend is here to stay, and it’s not just amazon.com or the other online retailers that are driving it,” said Paul Earnhart, senior vice president with Lee & Associates Ontario, in December. “Home Depot and a lot of the larger retailers are heading in that direction too.”

HOUSING MARKET WAKES UP The Inland Empire housing market slowly moved out of its slump during 2013. Foreclosures on single-family homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties were down to 20.8 percent by the end of the year, down from 24.6 percent during late spring and early summer, according to CoreLogic, which compiles financial and business data for clients.

Rising home prices helped owners of underwater properties regain some of their lost equity, and “short-sales” and foreclosures began to tail off in the Inland region earlier in the year.

Still, the local housing market was far from back to normal as 2013 drew to a close. The Inland Empire was fourth among the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States with the highest percentage of mortgaged properties, behind Orlando-Kissimmee Fla., Tampa-St. Petersburg Fla. and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz., according to CoreLogic.

SHAKE-UP AT THE PE The Press-Enterprise, the Inland region’s flagship daily newspaper, underwent major changes during 2013.

Michael H. Burns, formerly the senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Orange County Register, in November was named head of The Press-Enterprise. Burns replaced Ron Redfern, who retired as publisher after eight years on the job.

The announcement was made one day after Freedom Communications, owner of the Orange County Register, bought The Press-Enterprise from Dallas-based A.H. Belo for $27.25 million.

NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL The Inland Empire got its first full-fledged medical school in 2013, when the University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine welcomed its first class – 50 students – in August.

Since 1974, medical school classes have been taught at UC Riverside, part of a cooperative program the school operated with UCLA. But until 2013, UC Riverside had never had its own medical school, despite much effort by some local community leaders to establish one.

There was some support in the state legislature for funding a medical school in the two-county region, but that support waned in 2008 when the recession hit. Local officials raised about $100 million to get the school up and running, reportedly enough to keep it operating for a decade.

AIRPORT BATTLE HEATS UP The battle regarding control Ontario International Airport heated up during 2013, as local officials stepped up their efforts to take control of the beleaguered facility.

A study by a New York consulting firm on behalf of the Ontario International Airport found that the airport is in serious decline. If improvements aren’t made soon, the airport’s demise could cost the Inland region 8,000 jobs and $430 million, according to the consultant’s report.

Ontario International is owned and operated by the city of Los Angeles. Several Inland officials are leading a campaign for local control of the airport. They believe that Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that manages Ontario International, has neglected the local airport in favor or Los Angeles International Airport.

The airport lost passenger traffic for the sixth year in a row during 2013, and both sides agreed to put aside their legal dispute so they could try resolve the matter out of court. If that doesn’t work, they could be back in court as early as February.

LAWA officials blame the decline of Ontario International on the recession, along with higher jet fuel prices and changes several airlines have made to their operations. The fight over control of Ontario International should remain a major store in 2014.

NEW LEADERSHIP FOR PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Riverside’s Fox Performing Arts Center got new management during 2013.

Live Nation, a major player in the concert promotion industry, took over day-to-day operations of the venerable downtown facility at Mission Avenue and Market Street in December.

The company was hired to reverse a trend of reduced bookings, not of enough variety among the entertainment acts that did perform there and a lack of response to community groups that wanted to use the facility.

Officials with Live Nation – which is scheduled to take over management of Riverside Municipal Auditorium in March – pledged to be more active in the community.

The performing arts center opened in 1929 as a Fox Theater cinema. The theater, a downtown fixture for several decades, was perhaps best known for being the first place “Gone With the Wind” was shown. The city bought the facility in 2005 and restored it from a state of severe disrepair, but it has has struggled to stay afloat during the past four years or so.

FAST-FOOD WORKERS STAGE DEMONSTRATIONS Two thousand and thirteen was also the year that fast-food workers, weary of low wages and poor working conditions, staged protests throughout the United States, including several in the Inland Empire.

On Dec. 5, protests were held at McDonald’s restaurants in Riverside, Corona and at the San Bernardino location of the first McDonald’s restaurant, at 1398 N. E St., which is now a museum to the iconic hamburger chain.

Those events were part of 200 or so strikes and demonstrations at fast-food locations throughout the country.

Workers were seeking an increase in the minimum wage of $15 an hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 a hour, and California’s minimum wage is $8.00, but California’s will reach $10.00 on Jan. 1, 2016.