"Rialto Municipal Airport land value: $77M"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Airport land value: $77M
Rialto, FAA agree on amount
By Jason Pesick
The San Bernardino (CA) Sun


RIALTO - The city and the Federal Aviation Administration appear close to
reaching an agreement on the value of the Rialto Municipal Airport property.

On March 18, interim City Attorney Rahsaan Tilford reported that the City
Council determined $77.4 million was an appropriate dollar figure for the
property. 

That value coincides with what FAA officials indicated they were comfortable
with, said Rialto Economic Development Director Robb Steel. 

"We have approved it in concept, and we are certainly aware of the action
that is going before the Rialto City Council," said San Bernardino
International Airport Authority Commission Vice President and Loma Linda
Mayor Robert Christman. 

A significant portion of Rialto's airport tenants and about $50 million will
be headed to San Bernardino International Airport roughly 13 miles to the
east. 

Rialto's March 18 move, which the council could approve in open session on
April 1, is another step in the complex process of turning a working
municipal airport into a commercial, industrial and residential development
known as Renaissance Rialto. 

Renaissance, which will be developed by a partnership between Upland-based
Lewis Group and Texas-based Hillwood, will be located along the newly
extended 210 Freeway. 

Rialto's own appraisal put the value of the airport at about $67 million
before taking into account the costs of preparing the land for development,
but FAA officials thought the value should be higher. 

According to legislation passed by Congress in 2005, 45 percent of the value
of the airport property must be paid to SBIA. 

That amount - $49.5 million - will be governed by a separate value of about
$110 million for the property. The new value of $77 million will be used to
determine how much of the $49.5 million goes to accommodating new tenants
and how much goes to improvements at SBIA, Steel said. 

"There's no set guidebook for how this closure works," said Mike Burrows,
SBIA's assistant director. 

He said no matter how the money is supposed to be spent by SBIA, he's elated
that all of it will be invested in the airport. 

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor was unable to comment for this story. 

Steel said he hopes City Council approves plans for Renaissance by the end
of this year, especially since the first payment to SBIA is due in
September. 

After the plans are approved, the Lewis-Hillwood consortium will start
purchasing the 441 acres of airport property, which will be the heart of the
1,500-acre Renaissance Rialto development. 

Rialto's airport would close by the end of 2009, after new facilities are
built at SBIA and other airports to house Rialto's tenants. 

Rialto also needs to regain control of state land so it can move Easton
Street and finalize an airport-closure plan with the FAA. 

After all the details are worked out, the Super Target-anchored retail
center could open in time for Christmas 2010, Steel said. "That's still
pretty tight," he said.


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