Downtown condos hit snag

The latest proposal for the La Valencianna mixed-use project in downtown Riverside has run into another snag. The city has given developers 90 days to address the latest concerns, which include questions about the amount of on-site parking for commercial tenants as well as the projected per-unit prices.

Project site
Mid-century fire station


Project neighbor
Julia Morgan-designed
Riverside Art Museum
(formerly YWCA)

Located at the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Lime Street, the latest incarnation envisions 2 levels of underground parking (175 spaces), street level commercial/offices topped by 5 floors of residential (consisting of approximately 90 condos). If built, it would be Riverside's first significant mixed-use project in decades.

The proposed development is a partnership of local developers and investors, including longtime builder Henry Coil Jr., architect Bill Warkentin, landscape architect Tim Maloney and entrepreneur Don Dye, formerly the dean of UC Riverside's A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management.

Considering the recent rash of mixed-use developments built, planned and/or proposed elsewhere in Southern California -- namely, the downtowns of San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Pasadena, not too mention the Wilshire corridor -- downtown Riverside is a natural "Inland" location for such projects.

Our hope is that a workable/acceptable proposal comes to fruition soon before costs eventually diminish -- or kill -- the project.

Related

• Riverside Press-Enterprise - More kinks plague mixed-use project