Marketing Communication Releases

Reproduction of an article appearing in the San Bernardino County Sun

Land near SBIA draws interest

Interest among developers is heating up for land around San Bernardino International Airport.

Two developers are seeking redevelopment project study agreements with the Inland Valley Development Agency for land outside the boundaries of the former Norton Air Force Base.

The agreements, which will be brought before the IVDA board this afternoon during a regularly scheduled meeting, are essentially an exclusive right to negotiate while various development scenarios are studied for the land, said Don Rogers, the IVDA's interim executive director.

The study agreement period is set for one year.

It is the first time the IVDA is seeking to get involved in a development project outside the former base since the mid-1990s.

The IVDA's jurisdiction includes 15,000 acres extending outside the boundaries of San Bernardino International Airport, Rogers said.

Seal Beach-based development firm J.R. Watson & Associates is proposing a combination of town home, condominium, zero lot line "live-work'' residences and detached single-family residences on the north side of Third Street between Palm and Tippecanoe avenues in the unincorporated area of the county extending from Third Street to Fourth Street.

Watson is also proposing the acquisition of blighted and underused dwellings and other units and the assembly of land for an industrial-office project consisting of buildings to be built in a campus-style setting ranging from 2,500 square feet to 100,000 square feet.

This land is located south of Third Street between Lena Drive and Tippecanoe Avenue.

Watson is the developer of University Park in north San Bernardino, where single-family homes sell for between $500,000 and $800,000.

"We like San Bernardino and feel it is wonderful place for development,'' said Jim Watson, president.

Irving-based Street-Manchester LLC, a company that is in escrow to buy the Carousel Mall in downtown San Bernardino, is looking at a residential development on property located east of Waterman Avenue and bordered by East Dumas Street to the north.

Additional lands would be studied as well.

Street Manchester was one of the developers of the HUB project at Tippecanoe Avenue and Interstate 10.

The IVDA board meeting will begin no earlier than 3:30 p.m. at Loma Linda City Hall.