East Palmdale's Building Boom

A shopping center that will bring a Starbucks and a Chili's restaurant is being seen as the beginning of a retail development boom on Palmdale's east side.

The development project at Avenue S and 47th Street East will contain more than 60,000 square feet of retail and office space and is expected to be completed in about six months. The goal seems to be that of having large retail centers at both ends of town - the Antelope Valley mall and surrounding commerce area on Palmdale's West side (just off the 14 freeway) and now this newly proposed commerce development on the edges of town on the East side. The East side has really been enjoying a building boom which has included the addition of some GREAT family amenities.

The Chili's restaurant will occupy just over 6,100 square feet, employ between 120 and 140 people, and will seat between 225 and 250 customers.

The Starbucks, which will be Palmdale's fourth, will cover 1,800 square feet and will have drive-through service.

A Subway sandwich shop is also slated to be part of the project.

Other buildings planned as part of the complex include a 9,785-square-foot, single-story, multiple-tenant retail building, and three two-story retail buildings that would total 24,210 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor and 21,500 square feet of professional office space on the upper floors.

Among the statistics the development team is using to lure in tenants is the fact that more than 65,000 people live within three miles of the center. The average household income is over $60,000 a year.

In addition to the Park Plaza project, NAI Capital is working on an even bigger east side project: a 433,000-square-foot shopping center at Palmdale Boulevard and 40th Street East. The company is in talks with movie theater chain Cinemark about being the center's lead anchor business.

The concept for the center involves mid-size retailers - stores in the 25,000- to 50,000- square-foot range. Linens, sporting goods, pet supplies and electronics stores are examples of the types that would fit that size range.

Another major project in the works for Palmdale's east side is a shopping center at the northwest corner of Avenue R and 47th Street East that would be anchored by a Target store and a Home Depot. The center will have over 500,000 square feet of space spread out in 17 buildings on an approximately 50-acre site.

The Avenue R and 47th Street East intersection is poised to turn into a major retail center. There are three other projects proposed: a center anchored by a Rite Aid drug store on the southeast corner, a Vallarta supermarket on the northeast corner, and a small center with a Tom's hamburger restaurant on the southwest corner.


Sandee Conley
www.real-estate-palmdale.com
Questions? Send me an email!

Venture Commerce Center in West Palmdale


I had an interesting conversation yesterday with one of my clients. We are both "long term residents" of Palmdale and can remember when there was nothing here but the AV Mall on Rancho Vista Blvd. and Target just to the east of that. Coming from the beach area and the BIG CROWDS, it was a little weird to be the only person in a Target store! The AV has many different commercial and residential building projects still going on - the Venture Commerce Center, located between Trade Center Drive and 5th Street West in Palmdale, is the latest commercial development to sprout up from the desert floor. An interesting point to note regarding the Venture Commerce Center development is that you can actually purchase your own newly constructed business property - the development comprises privately owned business properties for sale. Why pay rent? At today's interest rates, it's less expensive to own your property. Ownership benefits would include property value appreciation, tax benefits, and increasing owner equity. If you are interested in buying your own business property - businesses include legal, technology and brokerage offices - give me a call. I'll be happy to provide more information.

Sandee Conley
www.real-estate-palmdale.com
Questions? Send me an email!

LAW AND ORDER!

Partners Against Crime: Public safety is the city's top priority. Palmdale experienced a 10 percent decrease in the crime rate this past year due in large measure to the city's Partners Against Crime program, a collaboration of city staff, residents, members of the Sheriff's Department and other public safety agencies whose goals are to reduce crime and improve the quality of life for Palmdale residents.

New Sheriff Station and Personnel: This fiscal year the city was able to add two 40-hour motorcycle deputies despite a $1.3 million increase in law enforcement contract costs. The Antelope Valley Traffic Task Force is a newly formed collaboration among staff from the City of Lancaster, the City of Palmdale, the Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The group is working together to enforce a zero-tolerance policy for unsafe driving within the Antelope Valley. In addition, the new 47000-square-foot, $23.9 million Palmdale Sheriff's Station will open in January. Located on 11.5 acres at the corner of Avenue Q and Sierra Highway, it will feature a helipad, a 7800-square-foot holding facility and an 8300-square-foot vehicle maintenance building.

New Fire Stations: Los Angeles County Fire Department is currently preparing plans for its two new fire stations: Fire Station No. 93 at Domenic Massari Park and Fire Station No. 136 at Rancho Vista Park. The city is providing land for the two sites at a cost of $415,000 and is providing design, project management and construction of off-site improvements having already spent almost $200,000 in improvements at the two sites. Empire Companies will contribute to the building of a third station in the 5200-home master-planned Anaverde community in the future.

Source: City of Palmdale California

Sandee Conley
www.real-estate-palmdale.com
Questions? Send me an email!

Universal Health Services Hospital in Palmdale - NEW CONSTRUCTION

Infrastructure construction continues for the up to 250-bed Universal Health Services hospital at Tierra Subida and Avenue Q5. Construction of the 250,000 square foot hospital began at the end of 2005 and is expected to be completed in early 2007. The hospital will have the largest emergency room in the Antelope Valley. The housing portion of the complex will be completed in 2006 and will include up to 80 units of affordable senior housing. Two 60,000 square foot medical office buildings will also be built. The City provided the land and funded more than $3 million for the off-site infrastructure, including roadways, traffic signals, streetlights, storm drainage, sewers, water and other utilities for the project.

Source: City of Palmdale California

Sandee Conley
www.real-estate-palmdale.com
Questions? Send me an email!

Looking for horse property?


Looking for horse property? The Antelope Valley offers a wide range of horse facilities and trails for horse lovers. The AV is home to breeding and working ranch acreage, as well as smaller horse properties in town - give me a call if you and your 4-legged friends are looking for a new place to call home! If you need horse training or lessons, I can refer you to top trainers here in the Antelope Valley.

Sandee Conley
www.real-estate-palmdale.com
Questions? Send me an email!

Strong economy forecast for the Antelope Valley Region

Housing and defense spending are showing signs of slowing nationwide. However, the local economy here in the Antelope Valley is still looking good according to the Antelope Valley Board of Trade's Business Outlook conference. Many people continue to move into the AV, spurring the need for more housing and services.

Nationwide, in general, house prices have reached their maximum and are beginning to stabilize and housing starts are beginning to drop. Locally, the AV remains affordable and that affordability is a major selling factor with homebuyers. Houses in the High Desert usually sell for half the price of those in metropolitan Los Angeles and surrounding areas of LA County, so that makes the Antelope Valley one of the most affordable communities in Southern California at this moment.

The number of home sales in the AV increased by 6% in 2005, when compared with 2004. New construction sales in both Palmdale and Lancaster grew by 52% over the same time frame.

Industrial development in the region also continues to move along at a strong pace. 650,000 square feet of industrial space is being developed in Lancaster. 550,000 square feet of industrial space has been approved for construction in Palmdale.

Retail sales rose to $3.7 billion in 2005.

The AV is also a major contributor to the film industry, which saw a multi million dollar increase in business in 2005 over previous years.


Sandee Conley
www.real-estate-palmdale.com

Rates rise, Consumer Confidence up.

Interest rates rise again ... The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.7%. It`s the 15th consecutive rate hike since the cycle began in June of 2004. The increases are designed to keep inflation at bay.

Economists are looking for signs in the upcoming Fed statement that will give an idea as to when rate rises will end. Some economists speculate that we will be in for one more rate rise and that will be it for 2006 - one more rate rise should be enough to cause a drop in housing starts and control inflation.

This is the first interest rate action under new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke since he took over from Alan Greenspan.

The interest rate hike comes the same day that the Consumer Confidence Index hit a nearly four-year high to reach 107.2 which is almost 5 points higher than last month. The Consumer Confidence Index is based on a survey of a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. TNS is the world's largest custom research company. The cutoff date for March's preliminary results was March 21st.

"This month's gain in Consumer Confidence has pushed the Index to a near four-year high (May 2002, 110.3)," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "The improvement in consumers' assessment of present-day conditions is yet another sign that the economy gained steam in early 2006. Consumer expectations, while improved, remain subdued and still suggest a cooling in activity in the latter half of this year."

Consumers' overall assessment of current conditions remains favorable. Those claiming conditions are "good" rose to 28.3 percent from 26.4 percent. Those claiming conditions are "bad" declined to 14.7 percent from 15.4 percent. Labor market conditions, however, remained mixed. Consumers saying jobs are "plentiful" increased to 28.4 percent from 27.4 percent, while those claiming jobs are "hard to get" moved up to 20.7 percent from 20.2 percent.

Consumers' outlook for the next six months improved moderately in March. Consumers expecting business conditions to worsen decreased to 9.9 percent from 10.9 percent, while consumers expecting business conditions to improve increased to 18.0 percent from 16.2 percent.

The outlook for the labor market was also more positive. Those expecting fewer jobs to become available in the coming months decreased to 16.6 percent from 19.9 percent in February, while those expecting more jobs edged up to 13.9 percent from 13.4 percent. The proportion of consumers anticipating their incomes to increase in the months ahead held steady at 18.8 percent.

Source: March 2006 Consumer Confidence Index, The Conference Board.

Part II: Retail and Commercial Development in Palmdale

This is a continuation of February 17th blog entry.

Palmdale residents have an average household income of $73,027, and the discretionary income to attract new retail and restaurant chains and sole proprieterships. Opening this year, we have Wickes Furniture Store at the crossroads of Rancho Vista Blvd. and 10th Street West, an Original Tommy's Hamburger just off the 14 freeway at the Rancho Vista Blvd. exit, and a Hampton Inn in the Lowes/Target shopping center. A Super Wal-Mart opened in August 2005. Wal-Mart will be joined by seven major stores, a Jo-Ann Fabrics and Craft store plus 10 smaller outlet stores.

Antelope Valley Mall, a million-square-foot regional shopping facility, just finished a major renovation and upgrade project that involved new landscaping, palm trees and a water fountain to the exterior, with new marble floors and shop facades to the interior. (It looks great!) A 21-acre expansion will include a Hilton Garden Inn & Suites, a 16-screen Cinemark movie theater (which will save the movie buffs among us in Palmdale the drive over to Lancaster Movies 22 on Avenue I) and new restaurants such as Johnny Carino's (italian chain restaurant), Famous Dave's BBQ, and Ginza Steakhouse. Away from the mall and over on Palmdale Blvd., a new sushi restaurant called Geisha also just opened.

New shopping projects continue to be developed. The new Albertson's anchor store over on Avenue N in Quartz Hill offers a huge, brand new supermarket complete with an "International Section" that offers food brands from around the world. (For those of us Brits who cannot live without our salad cream, HP Sauce and Branston pickle, this is the place to go!)

New neighborhood shopping centers, churches and park upgrades are in the works between 10th Street West and Avenue N West, along Rancho Vista Blvd on Palmdale's West side.

On Palmdale's East side, work is continuing this year to acquire and remove older residential properties in the Courson Connection Project area east of Poncitlan Square. This is an area that has seen some MAJOR improvements recently! More than $1.2 million is budgeted for property acquisition and design. The project plans call for the provision of 300 units of affordable senior housing, a new 12,000 square foot Senior Center (to replace the one just across the way on 10th Street East), a park with senior-oriented activities and space for small commercial establishments catering to senior citizens. The City of Palmdale is working with leading nonprofit housing developers to complete the project by 2008.

Just by looking at the new park upgrades and programs available to the city's children and the robust local economy ... the City of Palmdale is WORKING!

Sandee Conley. ePro REALTOR
www.real-estate-palmdale.com
Thanks to Palmdale News: Barbara La Fata, Editor and Jenny Peterson, Assistant Editor for source information.