450 Apartments Coming to Riverside Near Tyler Galleria

Orange County Register by Jonathan Lansner (August 11, 2021) – A former Gemco store site in Riverside will soon become 450 new rental units in the city.

Magnolia Flats, near the Galleria at Tyler, will emerge from land bought by Newport Beach-based Realm Group, said one of the deal’s brokers, Land Advisors Organization of Irvine. Neither the terms nor the seller was disclosed.

“Magnolia Flats will be one of the largest new multifamily projects in the Inland Empire this housing cycle,” Andrew Sinderhoff of Land Advisors.

The Gemco, a market with everything from departments store goods to groceries to gasoline, opened in 1979. The entire chain was shuttered in 1986 and a Kids R Us and a Lucky supermarket came to the location with little luck. Much of the original building was demolished in 2008.

What’s coming in the retool of old-retail-to-new-housing?

• A four-story residential building with 106 studio units, 173 one-bedroom units and 171 two-bedroom units
• Units will range in size from 459 to 894 square feet.
• Two multitenant commercial buildings over 9,000 square feet.
• Amenities include a roof-top deck and 67,473 square-foot park with a tot lot and a dog park.

“California continues to suffer from a housing crisis, but Magnolia Flats will help the city of Riverside meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goals,” says Ian Sinderhoff of Land Advisors.

The Inland Empire has had a hot apartment market as tenants seek more affordable prices away from the coast. The region started 2021 with some of the biggest rent hikes in the nation.

It’s been hot for investors, too.

In recent weeks, two apartment complexes with a combined 504 units in Moreno Valley sold for $107 million. In May, two complexes in Colton with 314 units total sold for $41 million. The buyer of all four properties was Tower 16 Capital Partners in San Diego.

“The Inland Empire continues to be a strong market for multifamily housing,” said Tower 16 co-founder Mike Farley. “We believe the demand drivers for multifamily housing will continue to grow in the coming years while new supply will remain very low. It’s likely this imbalance will result in strong rent growth in the submarket for the next several years.”

Data from four leading apartment trackers showed average apartment rents in the Inland Empire were $1,662 a month during 2021’s first quarter, up $130 a month, or 8.5%, from the year before.