On December 10, 2007, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) reported that Victorville was the fastest growing city in the region. Click here to see the CBS TV Video on Victorville.

According to the city of Victorville Website, May 9, 2007, the past ten years have seen explosive growth in Victorville, with a jump of over 60% in population and over 70% in housing units. The City of Victorville’s population has now crossed the 100,000 mark. Victorville is located just 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles County and just a 75-minute drive from Disneyland in Orange County. It’s easy to get to Victorville from anywhere in the United States, via the I-15 Freeway, Highway 395, Highway 18 and Highway 138. Victorville encompasses a land area of about 6760 square miles, with an elevation of 2875 feet above sea level. Victorville is also the home of the Southern California Logistics Airport, which is poised to become the most important international cargo airport in the nation.

 

The city of Victorville is a pro growth community. The city promotes business retention and encourages expansion though tax incentives and low interest loans. According to the San Bernardino Sun, April 18, 2005, Victorville's median priced new home is $259,456. These homes are often on a much larger lot than you would find in Los Angeles, Orange or San Diego County where median priced homes can cost about $600,000. The high prices of homes in the major cities have caused an influx of people to come to Victorville to buy homes.

 

The Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) together with the Victorville Redevelopment Agency (RDA) offer new companies favorable economic incentives to encourage them to locate there. These incentives are available to new and expanding companies. Some of these incentives include relocation assistance, manufacturing grant assistance, Lambra tax credits, building fee reimbursements, public infrastructure assistance, and tax increment loan participation. The SCLA and the RDA have assisted the construction of Sumiden Wide Products manufacturing plant, the construction of an 827,000 square foot distribution center for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the Mars Candy company, and the construction of a 50,000 square foot auto center for Valley-Hi Toyota and Honda.

 

According to the Daily Press, 3-13-02, Palmdale Road has been dubbed the "Mile of Cars," due to all the new car dealerships in that location to the west of I-15. A new Suzuki Motorcar Dealership shall be built on Palmdale Road. The CEO of the Dealership said: "This will be one of the largest stand-alone Suzuki dealerships in the entire nation." The Japanese carmaker was looking for another Southern California location, and they chose Victorville, because of the excellent demographics in the Victor Valley. Another dealership, Betcher Motors, shall sell late model cars and shall locate on a 29,000 square foot facility, and will be will be built just south of Palmdale Road on Amargosa Road, which is the same street as the famous 60 acre Mall of Victor Valley. The Victor Valley Mall contains Mervyn's, Best Buy, Sears, J.C. Penny, and a host of 100 well known stores.

 

Victorville has the prestige private lake community of Spring Valley Lake, which offers gorgeous homes right on the lake with excellent boating facilities. Spring Valley Lake is a 2007-acre development that offers a Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, a 200-acre lake with 7 miles of shoreline, a private country club and fully equipped equestrian facilities. Homes in Spring Valley Lake can be purchased from $250,000 to $800,000. If similar homes were located in Orange or Los Angeles County, many of them would be selling from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000. Victorville can also boast about the gorgeous homes in its Galaxy, Foxfire Ranch and Eagle Ranch developments.

 

 

 

Victorville has also made great strides in the area of health care, which is evidenced by the impressive multi-story Kaiser Permanente Building that is visible from I-15.

 

 

 

 

Victorville grows 2.5 percent in 2008, and leads all of San Bernardino County

According to the Victorville Daily Press, April 30, 2009, the Inland Empire city of Victorville had the fastest-growing population in San Bernardino County in 2008, even as population growth countywide leveled off, according to figures released Thursday. The County’s population grew from 2,044,895 in January 2008 to 2,060,950 in January 2009, according to the California Department of Finance. That amounts to an increase of 0.8 percent. Only six cities in the county grew by more than 1 percent.

The California Department of Finance reported the following 2009 population figures for the growth of local cities in 2008:

• Adelanto — 28,265, 0.9 percent growth
• Apple Valley — 69,861, 0.3 percent growth
• Barstow — 24,213, 1.7 percent growth
• Hesperia — 88,184, 1.1 percent growth
• Victorville — 109,441, 2.5 percent growth

 

According to the Victorville Daily Press, June 9, 2009, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Los Angeles Times that he’s now backing the DesertXpress Project from Victorville to Vegas. Senator Reid said the privately funded DesertXpress is cheaper and closer to starting construction than the government-funded Maglev, according to a report in Tuesday’s L.A. Times, and that the Victorville-to-Vegas project now seems like the most viable option. DesertXpress is expected to cost between $3.5 and $4 billion. The train will travel up to 150 mph, cost $110 round-trip and drop visitors in Vegas in roughly an hour and 20 minutes, according to DesertXpress President, Tom Stone. The project could start construction in Victorville in early 2010 and take four years to complete, with a possible future connection to Palmdale.

 

 

 

Victorville in 2009

According to the Victorville Daily Press, January 2, 2009, a new Dr Pepper-Snapple bottling plant is slated for 2009. The largest commercial project planned for this year is at Desert Sky Plaza. This year should see the opening of the city's first In-N-Out Burger, plus a Panda Express, Walgreens pharmacy, Wells Fargo bank and Hampton Inn hotel. Construction is also scheduled to start this year on the Wal-Mart Super-center at Dunia Plaza. Rothschild said the city is negotiating with another production plant planned for SCLA. He is hopeful that the deal will come through this year and add several hundred jobs, though he didn't give further details on the project.

 

 

 

New contract with Air Canada means more jobs at SCLA in 2008

According to the Victorville Daily Press, October 14, 2008, a new $12.5 million contract to paint planes for Air Canada will increase job security for the Leading Edge Aviation team.” With this contract, we expect to operate at full capacity for the next couple of years,” said Dave Patterson, executive vice president for Leading Edge Aviation Services. The company already paints up to 100 planes each year at SCLA and has contracts with more than 20 airlines including United, Continental, Southwest and Delta. The contract with Air Canada means more than 100 planes will be painted at the Southern California Logistics Airport facility over the next three to five years. This includes regional and intercontinental aircraft, from Airbus A319s to Boeing 777s.

“This is great news for Leading Edge and for the entire Victorville area,” said the company’s CEO, Mike Manclark. “This agreement with Air Canada will keep our airline-painting hangars full well into the next decade, fueling steady employment for the more than 200 workers who have turned the Victorville location into the success it is today.”

 

 

Boeing expanding unmanned helicopter project at SCLA in Victorville

According to the Victorville Daily Press, August 9, 2008, Boeing plans to expand its work with the unmanned A160T Hummingbird helicopter at Southern California Logistics Airport, which set a world record for endurance earlier this year. The City Council recently approved a three-year lease of a large hangar to the Boeing Company for the project. Boeing, which already operates several buildings at SCLA, will pay Victorville $4,099 each month to lease Hangar 879, with rent increasing 3 percent for the second and third years.

While specific plans for the nearly 7,000-square-foot hanger are restricted by the military, company spokesman Steve Mattei said Boeing will use the space to extend its program and continue development on the unmanned vehicle.
Boeing has been testing the aircraft in Victorville since 2002 under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It's being developed to provide reconnaissance and direct attacks for the U.S. military. The unmanned aircraft measures 35 feet long with a 36-foot rotor diameter, and will eventually fly up to 30,000 feet. The drone set a world record in May for its 18.7-hour endurance flight, landing with two hours of fuel remaining. The flight is being claimed as the longest on record in its class, and for "unrefueled rotorcraft endurance."

Other milestones for the A160 include hovering at 16,700 feet for over seven minutes, reaching speeds of 142 knots and carrying a 1,000-pound payload for eight hours.

 

 

High Speed Vegas from Victorville Train moves forward

According to the Victorville Daily Press, August 1, 2008, the DesertXpress — a privately-funded, high-speed train from Las Vegas to Victorville — continue to move forward, though at a slower speed than originally projected. The train will cover roughly 200 miles over newly built track at a top speed of 125 mph. It will drop visitors in Vegas in just over an hour and cost $110 round-trip, according to Tom Stone, president of DesertXpress. Mayor Terry Caldwell said the project is expected to create roughly 2,000 to 3,000 jobs, in customer service and at the adjacent train maintenance and repair facility. The DesertXpress itself also includes plans for a possible future extension to Los Angeles
The project is awaiting approval under an Environmental Impact Statement, began in July 2006 by the Federal Railroad Administration, according to spokesperson Steve Kulm. Though the city originally hoped to have the draft EIS in September 2007, Kulm said he expects the study to be complete by the end of this year or early 2009. “I am not aware of any major environmental issues at this point,” Caldwell said. The project primarily uses existing rail or freeway right-of-ways along Interstate 15.

Kulm said DesertXpress originally submitted insufficient data for the EIS and that they had to request further details, which delayed things a bit. The terminal itself is planned as a luxury development, with a promise that visitors will start their Las Vegas experience in Victorville.

“MGM and the Bellagio and all the major hotels would have a miniature replica of their hotel’s front desk at the station,” Caldwell said. Passengers can then check into their hotel, purchase show tickets and check their bags at the terminal, with staff delivering luggage directly to the hotel room.

 

 

Victorville 2 Hybrid power project was approved for construction in 2008

According to the Victorville Daily Press, July 16, 2008, the Victorville 2 Hybrid Power Project was approved for construction with a unanimous vote by the California Energy Commission Wednesday in Sacramento. Mayor Terry Caldwell and City Manager Jon Roberts were present during the vote and, according to a CEC spokesman; Caldwell hinted that the city may pursue another project of this kind in the future. The approval will keep the power plant on track to begin construction this summer, officials said, though the city is now waiting on final negotiations with property owners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victorville to be home to the world's largest Hybrid Power Plant

According to the Victorville Daily Press, January 18, 2008, Victorville will become the home to the county’s first hybrid gas and solar facility — and the plant is to be the largest of it’s kind in the world. Inland Energy Inc. is in the final stages of permitting for the plant. Victorville 2 is located near the Southern California Logistics Airport. Company officials expect to break ground this spring and be operating in the summer of 2010. The plant will include 250 acres of solar panels that will generate 50 megawatts of energy and a gas-power “combined cycle” plant that will produce 500 megawatts of natural gas, Barnett said.

The project, projected to cost between $700 and 800 million dollars, will be financed based on revenues from the electricity, at no cost to taxpayers, said Tom Barnett, Executive Vice President of developer Inland Energy, Inc. “The city expects to generate significant revenues from it,” Barnett said. “Revenues will be passed potentially back to the residents of the High Desert, in the first instance in the form of cheaper power and in the second, having that cheaper power attract more industry that will create more jobs.”

The electricity generated at the plant will connect to the grid that serves most of Southern California, and cities in the High Desert will have the opportunity to benefit directly from the plant, meaning they will start to see their monthly power bills go down.

 

Victorville is named second fastest growing city in the U.S.A. in 2008

According to the Victorville Daily Press, July 10, 2008, the City of Victorville has been named the second fastest growing city in the nation, second only to New Orleans, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.

As a part of the Inland Empire, Victorville wasted no time in taking the No. 2 spot after exceeding 100,000 in population in 2007.The population rose by 9.5 percent to 107,221 in the year ending July 1, 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“The city is a pro-growth city,” said Victorville Mayor Terry Caldwell. “All five members of the council have stated that as a position and so we’ve embarked on building a prosperous city to create jobs and this ranking is simply a validation of the success of our pro-growth policy.”

The increase in growth has also brought an increase in traffic and a need to build, maintain and repair roads. This is one of the biggest problems associated with the growth, Councilwoman Jo Ann Almond said, adding it’s a problem that can be managed.” You are going to have growing pains whenever a city experiences growth, that’s for sure,” commented Councilman Bob Hunter. “But nothing happens overnight.”

Almond said she expects the growth to continue and the city is currently looking to create opportunities for all the people who have moved here for more affordable housing.” We are working really hard to bring in jobs for those that do live here instead of them having to go down the hill,” she said. Councilman Rudy Cabriales has seen a slight slowdown and feels that this is the perfect time to try to catch up with all of the infrastructure needs of the city, especially dealing with the roads and traffic.” We are putting more money into the budget to build more fire stations, hire more police officers and to build more roads and more parks,” said Caldwell. “Yes, it’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge.”

Victorville was the only California city that made the top 10 list, but a total of five were on the Top 25. The city’s population exceeded the 100,000 mark for the first time in 2007.

 

 

Dr. Pepper-Snapple plant approved at SCLA in Victorville

According to the Victorville Daily Press, June 18, 2008,  the Victorville City Council has approved an agreement with the Dr Pepper Snapple Group to build a manufacturing and distribution plant at Southern California Logistics Airport. The plant will be the company’s largest hub west of Texas.

In order to make the plant feasible, the council also approved an anticipated $31 million to build a wastewater treatment facility along the north side of SCLA. The bottling company plans to discharge roughly 550,000 gallons of wastewater each day, including high fructose chemical oxygen and solids from its juices and teas.

The $120 million Dr Pepper facility will include an 850,000-square-foot building on 57 acres, with 550,000 square feet of warehouse space and a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing plant with up to six manufacturing lines.

Aside from the company’s name-sake Dr Pepper and Snapple, the plant will produce roughly 50 brands of beverages including -UP, A&W Root Beer, Motts apple juice and Sunkist. As planned, officials said the facility will be able to produce up to 40 million cases of product a year and will serve nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population.

Officials from the company said they were attracted to Victorville, because of the incentives associated with building on a former military base and the sheer volume of land available with utility connections nearby. They said most of their growth in recent years has been through expansions at existing sites, and the company is excited about being able to build this new hub from the ground up.

Dr Pepper Snapple doesn’t plan to use the airport facilities, officials said, other than if they need to fly in an emergency part for the plant. But the company will likely utilize the planned intermodal rail yard, to ship product across the country. Construction on both the wastewater facility and bottling plant is anticipated opening in early 2010.

 

Plant to bring 200 jobs
As with most economic development projects, city officials said the primary reason for bringing the Dr. Pepper Snapple plant to Victorville is job creation. The new bottling plant is expected to employ 200 people, according to company officials. While many of the jobs will be manual labor, there will also be an opportunity for skilled labor with lab technicians, management positions and more.

 

 

Sportsman's Warehouse opens in Victorville in 2008

According to the Victorville Daily Press, June 19, 2008, while businesses across the State are closing, one store bravely opened its doors and put 85 people to work after a month’s delay. The new Sportsman’s Warehouse on Valley Center Drive celebrated its soft opening this week, and Manager Doug Patch said the turnout was far above expectations.” I never knew there were so many hunters, campers and fishers in the High Desert,” Patch said. The opening was a welcome relief to Chuck Utgard, a stockholder with interest in the outdoor-enthusiast’s company.

Utgard said they shopped the project around for some time before choosing Victorville. He said he approached Apple Valley Councilman Scott Nassif, who mentioned possibly being able to bring in some water lines.
In the end, Utgard said they settled on Victorville mainly due to the ease of converting the former Costco building. He’d also heard the city was easy to work with, which he now finds to be scary thought.

The Victorville store — the 65th in the company’s chain — marks a large push of Sportsman’s Warehouse stores out west, Patch said, with more California and Nevada stores expected within the next two years.

 

SCLA in Victorville to bring global access, jobs and distribution centers in 2008

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, May 10, 2008, SCLA is continuing its transformation into the major logistics and distribution hub its developers and area observers say it can be. Global Access, the 8,500-acre multimodal freight transportation hub consisting of Southern California Logistics Airport, Southern California Logistics Centre, and the planned Southern California Rail Complex, has more than 100 tenants, ranging from small companies to international shipping firms. Anita Tuckerman, director of asset services at Global Access, said the project has only begun to resemble its completed self. At least three more buildings are coming to the Southern California Logistics Centre, and the planned rail project is still under preliminary construction.

Rail Complex
Tuckerman said Global Access' master developer is in discussions with BNSF Railway Co. to develop the Southern California Rail Complex, a 3,500-acre rail and container storage complex and 60 million square feet of planned commercial development. She said once the final agreement between the sides is signed, construction will be completed in about two years. BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said the project is interesting to the railroad because Victorville has a significant amount of suitable land, and business-friendly city official. "Victorville understands the economic engine an intermodal facility represents, when it comes to developing an area," Kent said.

Tuckerman said among Global Access' advantages is the ability to have international shipments cleared through customs on-site, rather than at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. She said the development has U.S. Customs officers present at all times. Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. chief economist Jack Kyser said one factor that'll help determine the success of the Global Access project is continued strong growth in container traffic at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

He said environmental regulations are holding up a project in Los Angeles that will expand the terminal at the port and include on-dock rail. Tuckerman said Global Access is governed by the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District, which is less restrictive than the South Coast AQMD, the smog-control agency for most of Southern California. Therefore, she said, it's the one place in Southern California where airplanes can be painted.

"The feeling in the international trade industry has been that there won't be much more in the way of expansion at (Los Angeles and Long Beach) due to these challenges," Kyser said.

Distribution
Many of the distribution center buildings already up and under construction, Tuckerman said, feature plenty of trailer parking, and truck doors on each side. The latter allows a building to be run like an assembly line, she said, with big loads coming in at one end and being broken down, and smaller loads leaving from the other side. The two-building Global Access Business Centre, a recently opened warehouse project, features both floor-level and dock-height truck doors, Tuckerman said, which is rare for buildings of their size; each is about 120,000 square feet. Tuckerman said putting up smaller buildings is part of Stirling's plans for Global Access not only to be a base for major shippers such as Newell Rubbermaid and ConAgra Foods, but also for High Desert-based businesses. Newell Rubbermaid has 407,612 square feet, and has an option on the space, should the building be expanded to 1 million square feet.

Big, Bigger Facilities with thousands of jobs
Last month, Stirling Capital Investments started development on a one million-square-foot industrial building on about 46-acres.Tuckerman said the developer decided to put the building up on spec because of the rarity of buildings that size. "We decided to go ahead so that when a million-square-foot user says 'we need (a building),' we can say 'here it is,'" she said. Victorville Mayor Terry Caldwell said the development could eventually mean thousands of new jobs for the High Desert. Redlands economist John Husing said the new jobs will balance out recent surges in population growth spurred by affordable housing, and help ease traffic flow from the Victor Valley to other parts of the Inland region and coastal Southern California.

Going Green
The development features several "green" attributes. Tuckerman said in addition to energy-saving skylights and water-saving plants, the developers are also using materials from demolished barracks and other military structures for streets and other surfaces.

 

 

Massive 1 million square foot logistics project underway at SCLA in 2008

According to the Victorville Daily Press, March 9, 2008, work has begun on what is being called the largest speculative industrial project ever built in the High Desert. Stirling Capital Investments is developing the 1-million-square-foot warehouse-distribution building at SCLA in Victorville, Stirling Vice President Brian Parno said. Construction on the 46-acre site started in February and is expected to be finished in December 2008. Despite the current economic slowdown, Stirling Capital officials still view the High Desert as a solid industrial market. “You don't build a logistics facility like this one for one year; you build it for 50 years." "You're a lot better positioned to do that in the High Desert than you are in Riverside or Ontario even if you could find a large-enough parcel," Parno said. "Down there you're more restricted to serving Southern California." The Victor Valley is a better option.

When it's finished, Southern California Logistics Center at SCLA will create approximately 24,000 jobs, along with another 18,500 supporting jobs in surrounding communities, Victorville Mayor Terry Caldwell said in a release. Mayor Caldwell is also chairman of the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority. The project will generate about $3 billion a year in economic activity, Mayor Caldwell said in the release. Stirling Capital is based in Foothill Ranch in Orange County. It is operated by Dougall Agan and Chris Downey, both of whom have developed more than $3 billion worth of projects in Southern California, according to the release.

The 2,500-acre Southern California Logistics Centre is part of Southern California Logistics Airport. SCLA is an 8,500-acre freight transportation hub made up of air, rail and ground components. The Southern California Logistics Airport, which handles cargo flights only, covers 2,500 acres. The planned 3,500-acre Southern California Rail Complex will feature 20 million square feet of distribution and manufacturing space at SCLA. Stirling Capital's 1-million- square-foot building will be located about three miles from Interstate 15, one of the busiest freight corridors in the United States, Parno said. The building will be attractive to any company looking for a western United States distribution hub.

The building, which will join four similar light-industrial structures at the logistics center developed by Stirling Capital, will cost about $5 million to construct. All five buildings will cover about 6.5 million square feet on 350 acres, according to a Stirling Capital release. About 200 people are expected to work in the new structure, Parno said. CB Richard Ellis will market the development. The building could handle up to four tenants, but Stirling Capital - which specializes in master-planned communities and major industrial land renovations -- would prefer to lease to one tenant. It's going to be the biggest light-industrial building in the High Desert, without question."

The President of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services' Victorville office said he knows of no larger logistical building in the High Desert than Stirling Capital's latest project.” We’re going to recommend it to any of our clients who are looking for industrial space." "We'd be crazy not to. It's a tough market, no question about it, but I would expect it to fill up pretty quickly. There's a good labor pool to draw from up here."

 

Five Wal-Mart super centers are planned for the Inland Empire's Victor Valley

According to the Victorville Daily Press, January 20, 2008, five Wal-Mart Supercenters are expected to open in the Victor Valley portion of the Inland Empire over the next two years. Three stores are proposed for Victorville, one for Apple Valley and one for Hesperia. These Supercenters are expected to nearly double the size of a regular Wal-Mart and sell food, including fresh produce. Each store is expected to generate $750,000 per year in local tax revenues according to John Mendez, spokesman for Wal-Mart in Southern California.

Wal-Mart already has regular discount stores in Apple Valley and in Victorville, as well as a distribution center in Apple Valley. The chain’s interest in expanding came from a combination of population growth and requests from customers for more stores. With the addition of the Supercenters, High Desert residents may see prices drop at other major grocery stores.

Here are the five planned Supercenters:

Victorville: In Victorville, at the Dunia Plaza Shopping Center on Bear Valley Road and I-15, there is planned a Wal-Mart Supercenter combined with a Sam’s Club, as well as three additional parcels for future development. The entire project is expected to employ 720 people on a 33-acre retail site. The Wal-Mart portion will be 231,000 square feet and include an in-store and drive-through pharmacy, a garden center and an auto center. The second proposed Victorville store would be near the corner of Palmdale Road and Highway 395. The third would be on Ridgecrest, near Spring Valley Lake. Wal-Mart is conducting environmental reviews at the sites. City officials are expecting approval later this year, which would mean a possible opening of late 2009 or early 2010.

Apple Valley: The proposed Apple Valley store would be on the southeast corner of Highway 18 and Dale Evans Parkway, between Thunderbird Road and Civic Center Park. The 260,000-square-foot project is scheduled to be reviewed by the town's Planning Commission in early 2008, according to the town’s Web site.

Hesperia: The Hesperia store will be on the corner of Main Street and Escondido Avenue. Wal-Mart is finishing their environmental review there, said city spokeswoman Kim Summers. She anticipates the project will be approved and they are expected to break ground this fall.

 

 

FedEx coming to SCLA in 2008

According to the Victorville Daily Press, January 2, 2008, Victorville Mayor Terry Caldwell announced that the Fortune 500 Company, FedEx, will be the newest tenant at SCLA. FedEx agreed to rent an 83,000-square-foot hangar at SCLA, creating an estimated 35 to 50 new jobs.

While the economy has slowed in some sectors, such as residential — commercial and industrial permits in Victorville have increased by 23 percent over the last year, said Caldwell. Caldwell also announced that Rubbermaid, already doing business at SCLA, will be expanding their facilities and grow to roughly one million square feet.

Those projects combined with 520,000 square feet of multi-tenant industrial and distribution space and two new hangars being built will make 2008 a better year than 2007, Mayor Caldwell said.

 

 

Major of Victorville predicts unprecedented economic boom in Victorville in 2007

According to the Victorville Daily Press, January 4, 2007, the year 2007 may be the beginning of an unprecedented boom time for the city of Victorville, according to Victorville Mayor Caldwell.” Victorville is alive, well, and better off today than when we gave the State of the City last year.” The Mayor also said: “We are ahead of the curve in terms of economic prosperity by every measure that economists use.”

At the center of that prosperity is the city’s effort to reshape the Southern California Logistics Airport into a distribution hub for consumer goods.” SCLA will be the largest rail logistics facility west of the Mississippi River.” “What’s going on at SCLA will soon rival what’s going on any place in this country.” Jobs created at SCLA have so far remained in the area of aircraft maintenance and repair, but the Mayor assured the business community that the incoming positions would be high-end logistics jobs that would boost the quality of life for all residents of the Victor Valley.

According to the Victorville Daily Press in another article on January 4, 2007, City officials are in talks with the Port Authority of Long Beach to explore Victorville’s contribution to the statewide flow of goods to consumers.” In an attempt to answer the question on how to better move goods statewide, John Pope, media relations manager for the Port of Long Beach, said: “Victorville could potentially be a part of our solution.”

Plans are in the works to transform SCLA into a multi-modal facility and inland port designed to receive both domestic and international goods for distribution throughout the country. Such a logistics industry at SCLA could bring with it high-quality jobs, and with the interest by the Port Authority of Long Beach, officials hope the jobs are finally coming en masse.

Such a catalyst would make possible a 5,000-acre master planned community in Victorville, which would be centered on a high-speed train station to Las Vegas and would be nestled at the crux of Interstate 15 and the new E-220 corridor to Palmdale. The prospects for Victorville would make it possible to have a resort where business travelers can attend a seminar, then board a high-speed train to Las Vegas for a little blackjack — all in time to be back for a good-night’s sleep and more networking the next day.

With its proximity to Southern California Logistics Airport and the new east-west corridor, Victorville will be the key City of the Victor Valley in a few years, said Victorville’s Development Director, Bill Webb. He foresees a capacity of 80,000 living units, 130 million square feet of commercial space and 9 million square feet for industrial use.

In February 2007, the city will break ground on a rail spur that will be the linchpin of a multi-modal logistics hub — adding rail service to the already-available air and trucking capacity. Victorville has been planning for more than a year to build its own multi-modal facility. After several months of land acquisitions, the city has 95 percent of the right-of-way to bring rail service to SCLA, said city spokeswoman Yvonne Hester. She went on to say that construction will commence this year.

In addition to the rail spur, a private developer is planning to build several million square feet of speculative development at the SCLA complex, hoping to attract distribution companies who need cross-dock facilities. The developer, Stirling Enterprises, has already announced, in its submittals to the city, its plans to build at SCLA a 400,000-square foot warehouse for Atlanta based consumer-products giant, Newell Rubbermaid. In addition, Victorville and its partner, Inland Energy, are submitting their application to the California Energy Commission for "Victorville No. 2", a 550-megawatt natural gas-fired plant with 50 megawatts of solar input.

 

 

Costco announces opening of new giant store in Victorville in 2007

According to the Victorville Daily Press, July 25, 2007, construction is under way on a new Costco facility in Victorville, which shall open in October, and employ over 300 people. Located at Lorene and Valley Center drives, the new store will feature about 160,000 square feet of retail space, which will be about 40 percent larger than the existing store. “Costco is a significant employer and generator of sales tax revenues. After the opening of the new store, Costco plans to tear down its existing location, which will be replaced by about 60,000 square feet of retail space.

With booming retail demand in the local market, Costco has struggled to accommodate the large volume of customers in its existing location. In the future, Costco will add another store in the Victor Valley.” Currently, Costco is the only membership store in the Victor Valley.

Other membership wholesalers are already maneuvering to get a piece of the action in the hot Victor Valley retail market. Sam’s Club plans to build a store at Bear Valley Road and Amargosa Road in Victorville.

 

 

Victorville announces intent to double its geographic boundaries

According to the Victorville Daily Press, December 20, 2006, the city of Victorville is planning to expand its Sphere of Influence northward to an area that would eventually nearly double its size — from 74 square miles to 132 square miles. On Tuesday night the Victorville City Council approved an application to the County’s Local Agency Formation Commission to extend its sphere to the community of Oro Grande and stretch it all the way to the southern border of Barstow’s Sphere of Influence. The area includes Quartzite Mountain, which represents 37,000 acres, of which about 20,000 acres are developable, said Doug Robertson, Deputy City Manager.

Developers are already looking to build houses in the area, according to Buck Johns, President of Newport Beach-based Inland Group, which is developing a solar-natural gas hybrid power plant for the Victorville.” This will be the largest city in San Bernardino County,” Johns said. “There are housing projects approved right now that will double the size of the city.” According to Johns, jobs will be coming up to the High Desert in rapid order — as evidenced by a planned 400,000-plus Newell Rubbermaid Distribution Center at Victorville’s Southern California Logistics Airport.

“The jobs are being driven out of the basin because of the emissions problems,” he said. Kathleen Rollings-McDonald, executive officer of LAFCO, said the proposed sphere-of influence area is monumental. “It’s huge,” she said. Rollings-McDonald, who is charged with managing Victorville’s application, said a Sphere of Influence is a major responsibility. “To have a Sphere of Influence obligates you to plan your facilities,” she said. “You are required to general plan for the area. You are required to master plan for roads, any number of things.” She said she expected some opposition to the plan. “In any sense, where you have that massive a proposal and you affect the development abilities of people, there’s always opposition,” she said.

 

 

SCLA ready for $340 million expansion, creating 13,149 jobs and 5.78 million square feet of buildings in 2006

According to the Victorville Daily Press, April 29, 2006, the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority is set to approve a $340-million plan that would develop 5.78 million square feet of industrial, manufacturing and logistics space at the Southern California Logistics Airport. The plan is set to create a projected 13,149 jobs according to SCLA officials. Currently SCLA employs around 2,500 people. Top tenants include General Electric, Liberty West, Pratt & Whitney, Leading Edge, US 101, Boeing, Southern California Aviation, and Heavylift Helicopters.

 

 

“There is a demand pressure for larger buildings of up to 1 million square feet, and we want to provide them for tenants,” said Dougall Agan, principal of Stirling International, the private development partner at SCLA. Agan explained that industrial space is running thin in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino County and more companies have become interested in what SCLA can offer as an alternative Agan said the lack of industrial space in Southern California would be a direct job-generator at SCLA. City Manager Jon Roberts said the project will substantially accelerate the development of jobs and clients at the Southern California Logistics Airport. Moreover, Inland Energy Group President Buck Johns said that SCLA stands to gain much with the shortage of space in the ports of Los Angeles and San Pedro.” With 45 percent of imports in the U.S. coming in through those ports, something has to give," he said. "SCLA is a perfect example of an Inland Port."

The deal to build-out the land would include a commitment from the city of Victorville to invest $60 million for infrastructure, Roberts said. City Attorney, Andre De Bortnowsky, said infrastructure development would include the construction of roads, curbs, gutters and sewers. The money to fund these projects would come from redevelopment funds. Dividend Capital Trust will fund most of the $280 million for construction of spec buildings, Roberts said. The project would be developed in three phases. Phase one is scheduled to be completed within a 30-month period, according to SCLA documents

Councilman Bob Hunter said companies like Dividend Capital Trust have recognized the growing potential of the Southern California Logistics Airport.” No company would invest so much money unless they stood to get a return on their investment,” Hunter said. “This deal is really going to impact the development of the High Desert economy by creating thousands of jobs.”

According to the Victorville Daily Press, October 25, 2005, to fulfill the demand for workers at SCLA, Sterling is working directly with four area junior colleges, including Victor Valley College, to attract mechanics and other personnel needed at this Airport. "Our plan is to start a certificate course that will be taught at SCLA in cooperation with Victor Valley College, San Bernardino Valley College, Chaffey College and Barstow Community College."

 

 

650 upscale homes announced for 227-acres in Victorville in 2006

According to the Victorville Daily Press, April 2, 2006, the Developer who owns vacant land that was once part of the historic Kemper Campbell Ranch has received initial approval from the Victorville Planning Commission to build 650 homes in a 227-acre subdivision. The Project is planned between Hesperia Road and the Mojave Narrows near Seneca Road. The Developer plans to construct 7,200- to 35,000-square-foot lots with construction slated to begin in the next 12 months.

The Kemper Ranch became the desired location of many of Hollywood’s elite during the 1940s and 1950s, and was among the Victor Valley’s most popular destinations, even before Victorville become a city. Here, stars such as Henry Fonda, John Wayne and Clark Gable came to relax and get away from the pressures of making movies. While many other stars in Hollywood chose Palm Springs, some stars saw Kemper Campbell Ranch as an unrivaled destination.

 

 

Victorville to get 492-unit upscale apartments in 2007

According to the Victorville Daily Press, June 24, 2006, the city of Victorville is about to get a 492-unit upscale apartment complex that has been named Seneca Apartments.” They are very high-end,” said Ryan McEachron, chairman of the planning commission, adding that they look like some of the apartments you would see near Victoria Gardens Shopping Center in Rancho Cucamonga.” We are aiming at the more affluent renter,” said Daniel Gyurec, Manager of DeVille Developments LLC. It is a class A product, and we’re trying to attract class A renters.

The project, set to break ground in early 2007, will offer 360 apartments and 132 town homes. Both will be built with the idea of eventually selling them off as condominiums. The architectural style will be Mediterranean, with two clubhouses, two pool areas with a multi-level design, barbecue pits and putting greens.

Gyurec, whose Corona-based company builds mostly single-family homes south of Victorville, saw an opportunity to build high-end multifamily housing in the High Desert. As home prices continue to rise, Gyurec is betting that there will be people getting jobs here who won’t want to buy a home right away. He added, “You have so many workers working out at Southern California Logistics Airport and they’re not all here full-time.”