Business View Magazine | October 2019

302 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2019 Freeman, “As an example, we had a company reach out to us wanting a 50,000-sq.-ft. office footprint in our Innovation District. And as of right now, we just don’t have the inventory. Our office vacancy rates are less than two percent – basically, we have nothing. So, we’re really trying to facilitate Class “A” office development in that District. City Council just approved a project called Riverside Alive which, when it’s completed in 2023, will be about a $400-million private investment with 220,000 sq. ft. of new office space and about 100,000 sq. ft. of new retail. The project is also going to expand our existing Convention Center up to 150,000 additional square feet, and will include multi- family units. So we’re really excited about that, especially the office space. We think this is one of several office buildings that are going to be needed in our Innovation District.” The city has a lot of other projects cooking, as well, like the Riverside Food Lab, an urban food court that opened in August 2018. First of its kind in the Inland Empire, it was recently voted in an pictured Riverside Food Lab