RIVERSIDE – (INT) - The Farm House Motel, which has sat vacant since 2007 near the campus of UC Riverside, is being reborn as an indoor/outdoor center of retail shops, restaurants and entertainment.

An investment firm has won approval to develop the 1-acre site on University Avenue as an “anti-mall retail project” similar to The Lab in Costa Mesa.

Envisioned is transforming the abandoned structure into a destination for people to shop, eat and mingle. Bailey California Properties LLC expects the project to create 30 construction jobs and 97 full- and part-time jobs.

A project timeline calls for the company to close escrow and obtain all necessary entitlements within two years and begin construction within 90 days of closing escrow. Construction is expected to take less than a year.

“This site has been out of productive use for a very long time, so this project is very exciting,” said City Councilmember Andy Melendrez, who represents the area. “Thousands of would-be customers are living and studying not even a half-mile away at UCR and in the surrounding community, so the potential for success is definitely there.”

Story Date: August 21, 2018