'Development Strike Team': How Thoughtful Planning Fuels Growth In Business-Friendly Moreno Valley

While many cities in California are facing outbound migration, the Inland Empire’s City of Moreno Valley has been able to buck the trend and continue to grow its population and punch above its weight economically.

In recent years, the city has worked to attract and retain employers to create jobs locally and ensure residents have employment opportunities close to home.

“We’re a full-service shop for businesses when they need us,” said Keith Gemmell, Moreno Valley’s acting economic development director. “Whether it’s working with a business to help them figure out their air quality compliance requirements or how to hire 100 people in six weeks, we’re ready to roll up our sleeves.”

As part of its pro-business strategy, Moreno Valley is leveraging thoughtful real estate development to remake itself into a more interconnected, self-sustaining local economy while striving to keep housing costs affordable, Gemmell said.

Those transformative projects include the redevelopment of a defunct mall into a mixed-use destination, creation of a new town center and expansion of healthcare infrastructure.

Modernizing The Mall

Built in the early 1990s, Moreno Valley Mall saw its fortunes change in recent decades as e-commerce grew in popularity, much like many malls across the country.

In partnership with the city, the mall’s current owner, IGP Business Group, plans to construct two hotels, four multifamily residential buildings and an office building on what is currently the mall parking lot.

The city, too, has skin in the game, Gemmell said. It is co-leading the creation of a museum at the mall in what was formerly the Sears anchor space by being the space’s lease signatory. The museum will be curated by Lighthouse Immersive, the company best known for its Van Gogh painting exhibits.

“It’s our way of investing in the project and building it up to be a regional draw,” Gemmell said.

The museum is slated to open in early 2026, Gemmell said.

A New Town Center And Healthcare Expansion

The mall redevelopment is part of a larger vision for the city. In June, the city council approved plans for the Moreno Valley Town Center, a mixed-use project that Lewis Retail Centers is developing on what is now an empty field.

The town center will be a walkable downtown that will include anchor grocery stores, a mix of other retail, a civic center building, a small park and 800 new residential units, Gemmell said.

“We’re excited to get this land repurposed for what the community needs,” Gemmell said.

Gemmell noted that the city’s medical services sector is another pillar of the local economy, and it, too, is in expansion mode.

“Both our major hospitals, Kaiser Permanente and Riverside University Health System, have master-planned expansions of their campuses of 1M SF each,” Gemmell said. “These new healthcare projects, which are phased and already in progress, are slated to bring 6000 new jobs to Moreno Valley.” 

Firing On All Cylinders 

Moreno Valley is California’s 20th largest city, and its location and size mean it still has room to grow. In addition to the mall, the town center and the medical campuses, there are many new projects in the pipeline, Gemmell said.

“As a city of 52 square miles, we’re only 60% developed,” Gemmell said. “We’re making everything a priority: creating housing, hospitality, entertainment, medical and commercial space, courting employers and increasing walkability.”

The growth is not typical for California, he said, where real estate developers in other cities often face epic challenges to get projects through the approval process.

In contrast, Moreno Valley is aggressively pro-development, Gemmell said.

“We have a development strike team that meets weekly,” he said. “The team includes leaders from departments ranging from public works to building and safety, and community development to the fire marshal. We want to ensure we keep the momentum on entitlements going.”

Another tool in the city’s toolbox? Owning its own local power utility, which supplies power to all new Moreno Valley properties as well as two-thirds of existing properties.

“Having the utility allows us to offer discounted electricity rates to our major employers who employ a certain threshold of local residents, in addition to other rebates,” Gemmell said.

The city’s full-court press on growth has yielded results.

“We’ve developed a brand with employers in certain industries,” Gemmell said. “Fortune 500-sized companies like Aldi, Sketchers, Harbor Freight, Walgreens and Procter & Gamble have their Western headquarters here.”

Notable recent retail openings include a Cava, 85°C Bakery Cafe, Crumbl Cookies and a Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. 

“Our entire team at the city is dedicated to premier concierge service to employers so they can get up and operational as quickly as possible,” he said. 

Quality Of Life

Gemmell said the city’s affordability attracts many people to Moreno Valley, where housing prices are much lower than in cities on California’s coast.

“We have many residents who moved here for the more affordable homes but still work in Orange County, LA County or even down in San Diego County,” Gemmell said. “If we can, we want to help them secure jobs locally so they don’t have to spend their lives on the freeway.”

Moreno Valley provides incentives to businesses that hire locally.

“We provide $1,000 every time a company hires a recent college graduate who is a resident,” Gemmell said. “We also provide $1,000 each time an employer hires a Moreno Valley military veteran, and in that case the vets themselves receive $500 on top.”

In addition to creating jobs locally, city officials are also focused on creating more local entertainment opportunities.

“We’re hearing that folks don’t want to drive out of town for recreation, hence the focus on developing mixed-use destinations, green space and walkability,” Gemmell said.

Some parts of the city’s plan for transformation are still in early stages or yet to break ground, but officials are confident their strategy is already paying off.

“Moreno Valley is growing and we’ve got the land, workforce and infrastructure and political will to keep that momentum going,” Gemmell said.

This article was produced in collaboration between the City of Moreno Valley and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.