One of our partners during the RECon show is the County of San Bernardino (booth CW149 at RECon). One of the cities being featured by the county is Hesperia. We recently spoke with Rod Yahnke of the city's economic development department, and he told us about the retail real estate happenings in the municipality.
"The City of Hesperia in the High Desert region of the County of San Bernardino was named one of the nine least expensive cities in California in which to do business by the Kosmont Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey in 2011, which makes it a great choice for retail investment. The city, with a population of 103,368, benefits from more than 17 miles of north and southbound I-15 freeway frontage. This freeway provides traffic counts of 98,000 cars northbound and 104,000 cars southbound.
What makes the High Desert communities attractive is that they are primarily dominated by young families. Hesperia has a median age of 31.7. A strong indicator for retailers is that the City also has a 72.29% home ownership, including primarily young, sports-oriented families.
One of the biggest areas of change has been Hesperia’s Main Street. There has been a significant amount of new construction creating a true pedestrian-oriented civic plaza that in turn brings in a great deal of daytime population. For example, the Main Street, which counts approx. 40,000 cars a day, is now home to the Hon. Jerry Lewis County of San Bernardino High Desert Government Center and Hesperia Police Department Headquarters. The High Desert Government Center totals 66,800 gross square feet housing multiple county departments including the First District Board of Supervisor’s Office, Agriculture, Assessor, Recorder, Land Use, Fire, Human Resources, Environmental Services, Public Works, Registrar of Voters and Veterans Affairs. The Civic Plaza area also includes a new 12-screen theatre that will open just before Thanksgiving and the Hesperia Branch Library, which is one of the busiest in the County. These new projects have significantly enhanced the daytime population driving the need for more full-service restaurants on Hesperia’s Main Street.
Retail continues to expand in the City. A 195,350 square-foot Walmart Supercenter is under construction as part of the Marketplace on Main. A second major 180,000 square-foot anchor is available in this center as are 65,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on 7.6 acres of this site.
Another significant retail center is the High Desert Gateway which is anchored by Super Target and encompasses a 347,471-square-foot phase one. Phase two will add another 184,858 square feet of retail. To underscore the strength of the population, the recently opened Golden Corral is the top-performing restaurant in that chain’s Southern California portfolio."
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