Rialto Airport Land Valued at $77 Million (REDORBIT March, 25, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective:

We don't want to be in the way of the Christmas Season come 2010, for Target Supercenter, after all that is the only Store that drew any interest in the Rialto Renaissance when it was proposed to the Business world in their little Business fair! Why I am still wondering where the In~N~Out Burger is that was supposed to be Built at the Intersection of Riverside Ave. @ Galloway Ave. (Galloway Ave was closed and In~N~Out Burger was going to be built on the E/Curb of Riverside just N/of the 210 W/B Off ramp). According to the talks by the City Planning the Construction of the Restaurant would have started shortly after the I-210 Freeway was opened! Well? The Freeway has opened, yet NO CONSTRUCTION!!

Now they are just talking about the Sale of the land for the development of the Airport, I have to say that Lewis and or the other Companies that are doing this in this market just might find themselves filing for Bankrupts!! Before it is all over

BS Ranch

Airport Land Value: $77M

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 02:00 CDT

By Jason Pesick

RIALTO - The city and the Federal Aviation Administration appear close to reaching an agreement on the value of the Rialto Municipal Airport property.

On March 18, interim City Attorney Rahsaan Tilford reported that the City Council determined $77.4 million was an appropriate dollar figure for the property.

That value coincides with what FAA officials indicated they were comfortable with, said Rialto Economic Development Director Robb Steel.

"We have approved it in concept, and we are certainly aware of the action that is going before the Rialto City Council," said San Bernardino International Airport Authority Commission Vice President and Loma Linda Mayor Robert Christman.

A significant portion of Rialto's airport tenants and about $50 million will be headed to San Bernardino International Airport roughly 13 miles to the east.

Rialto's March 18 move, which the council could approve in open session on April 1, is another step in the complex process of turning a working municipal airport into a commercial, industrial and residential development known as Renaissance Rialto.

Renaissance, which will be developed by a partnership between Upland-based Lewis Group and Texas-based Hillwood, will be located along the newly extended 210 Freeway.

Rialto's own appraisal put the value of the airport at about $67 million before taking into account the costs of preparing the land for development, but FAA officials thought the value should be higher.

According to legislation passed by Congress in 2005, 45 percent of the value of the airport property must be paid to SBIA.

That amount - $49.5 million - will be governed by a separate value of about $110 million for the property. The new value of $77 million will be used to determine how much of the $49.5 million goes to accommodating new tenants and how much goes to improvements at SBIA, Steel said.

"There's no set guidebook for how this closure works," said Mike Burrows, SBIA's assistant director.

He said no matter how the money is supposed to be spent by SBIA, he's elated that all of it will be invested in the airport.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor was unable to comment for this story.

Steel said he hopes City Council approves plans for Renaissance by the end of this year, especially since the first payment to SBIA is due in September.

After the plans are approved, the Lewis-Hillwood consortium will start purchasing the 441 acres of airport property, which will be the heart of the 1,500-acre Renaissance Rialto development.

Rialto's airport would close by the end of 2009, after new facilities are built at SBIA and other airports to house Rialto's tenants.

Rialto also needs to regain control of state land so it can move Easton Street and finalize an airport-closure plan with the FAA.

After all the details are worked out, the Super Target-anchored retail center could open in time for Christmas 2010, Steel said. "That's still pretty tight," he said.

(c) 2008 The Sun, San Bernardino, Calif.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: The Sun, San Bernardino, Calif.

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