Office Building, Garage Are Planned in Ontario

Ontario, the business hub of the Inland Empire, already boasts million-dollar homes and a private airport for executive jets.

Now a developer is proposing what would be the first big Class A office building the region has seen in a decade.

The city’s Planning Commission has approved the development of a six-story, 150,000-square-foot office project with an adjacent four-level parking structure. The new building, at 888 Haven Ave., is scheduled to be completed by mid-2006.

“We are building to demand in a market that is currently going unfilled,” said Jim Brooks, president of Empire Commercial Real Estate, the building’s Ontario-based developer.

The Inland Empire is one of the fastest-growing real estate markets in the U.S. The region is expected to add 36,000 jobs this year, with about 6,500 of them to be professional and business service positions, such as law and financial services firms.

Many of the new jobs are expected to come from office-using companies moving or expanding from the high-priced coastal markets of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“We believe in the strength of the growth in the Inland Empire as commuting and gridlock become more pervasive,” Brooks said.

And although some 750,000 square feet of office space is expected to become available this year, it probably will fall short of demand, according to Encino-based real estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap.

Already, rapid growth has changed the housing market. The median price of a Riverside County home is approaching $400,000, and new subdivisions featuring mansions on golf courses are springing up throughout the region.

And the influx of highly paid professionals has prompted the expansion of a private airport for corporate jets near Ontario International Airport.

As Brooks sees it, the region’s evolution has created demand for commercial office space, and his project would help fill some of that need.

Adding a four-story, 532-space parking structure is also a sign of the times, Brooks said.

“It had been difficult to justify the cost of a covered garage,” he said, “but that is starting to evaporate.”