A Target, Sprouts and Burlington Coat Factory have been proposed for the Arden-Guthrie property in eastern San Bernardino by a San Pedro developer with whom the city intends to do business.
Plans for the 17-plus acres of vacant land southwest of East Highland and Arden avenues have come and gone the past two decades as city officials sought to redevelop the site to create jobs for low- and moderate-income residents.
San Bernardino leaders agreed to sell the Arden-Guthrie property to a Redlands developer two years ago, but the $4.5 million pact was terminated in June 2021.
The 17.4-acre site just south of the 210 Freeway, which at one time had a cluster of apartments deemed one of the city’s most crime-plagued neighborhoods, was subsequently declared surplus land, giving affordable housing sponsors and public entities first crack at purchasing it.
With no viable responses from those preferred groups, Rich Development ultimately emerged from a field of prospective developers earlier this year, and city staff and firm representatives have met regularly in recent months to discuss the project site, according to a report prepared for the City Council.
Elected officials will consider entering into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with the firm Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Such a pact is effective for six months, with two possible 90-day extensions, if mutually agreed upon.
An ENA requires a developer provide a proposed development plan, proposed zoning changes or changes to the city’s General Plan, a list of potential users or tenants, a proposed time schedule and cost estimates, and a proposed financing plan, among other documents.
Rich Development, the firm behind Marketplace at El Paseo in Fresno, Prospector’s Plaza in Placerville and The Trading Post in Clovis, has pitched a sprawling commercial plaza in San Bernardino with one large anchor store, three smaller anchor stores, four food pads and a convenience store/gas station.
Tenants will include Target, Sprouts and Burlington, city staffers report.
San Bernardino presently has only one Target, on Orange Show Road. Its northern location on Sterling Avenue closed in 2018 after underperforming for years.
The Sprouts market would be the city’s first.
The City Council meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Feldheym Library, 555 W. Sixth St. in San Bernardino.
