Lewis: It’s a pleasure to work with the elected officials and the staffs at the County of San Bernardino and the cities throughout the Inland Empire. They do an excellent job at creating a business-friendly environment which helps assure the retailers success. In addition to having pro-active, business-friendly staffs, several of the cities offer targeted business attraction programs.

GlobeSt.com: At Apple Valley Commons you have a Walmart Supercenter going across the street from Super Target. How does that dynamic work?

Lewis: In this instance it’s definitely a positive because it will bring more retail (critical mass) to the intersection, and we expect that it will also attract new customers from some of the outlying areas of the High Desert, such as Barstow, which should help create new tenant interest in Apple Valley Commons from those retailers looking for a more regional draw. As a side note, this is also a relocation of an existing Walmart that is currently across the street from our center.

GlobeSt.com: You have some medical uses in High Desert Gateway. Do you see that as a wave of the future?

Lewis: Consistent with the aging baby boomer population and the emphasis on health across all demographics, we have seen increased interest from personal care and health and beauty shop-space users, such as dentists, optometrists, massage/chiropractic uses as well as urgent care operators. These types of users are looking for the visibility/convenience that a neighborhood/community shopping center can provide.

Apart from the shop space within a center, we’re also seeing interest/opportunities for medical office buildings within shopping centers (like Eastvale Gateway South, Sierra Lakes Professional Park) with a hospital partner providing diagnostic services and office space for private practice physicians.

GlobeSt.com: Are there any tenants you are excited about right now?

Lewis: Generally speaking we are seeing a lot of retailers coming off the side lines and starting to expand in centers that are well-located with good co-anchors. We have a strong portfolio of opportunities for these users.

We have also seen some new concepts, as well as some existing concepts, that have accelerated their expansion in the Inland Empire particularly in the food and health/beauty/fitness categories including Smash Burger, Freddy’s (steakburgers and custard), Jersey Mike’s Subs, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Fitness 19, Massage Green, The Joint (chiropractic), and Fleet Feet.

GlobeSt.com: What is your firm’s objective at the ICSC Western Division conference this year?

Lewis: Our leasing/development team has over 35 meetings set up with a number of retailers/brokers to market both the available space in our existing portfolio as well as to showcase our new development opportunities. We have a 1,500-square-foot booth, and we always have a lot of “walk-up” traffic so it is also an opportunity to showcase our projects to the general attendees/new retailer and broker prospects at the convention. In addition, the ICSC conventions are always a great opportunity to network and to learn what other developers and cities are offering.