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The Center of Paradise

By Pamela Bieri

Seen Right: The Kaiser Permanente Complex serves the residents of the Coachella Valley.
Photo by Chris Miller

Palm Desert continues its enviable reign as the center of Southern California’s desert paradise geographically as well as economically.

With strong retail sales, upscale shopping and dining, and a world-class tourism and resort industry, Palm Desert offers expanding business, development, entrepreneurial, and educational opportunities, plus outstanding cultural and public amenities. This 34-year-old city with nearly 50,000 permanent residents is the second largest city in the Coachella Valley and a premier destination for visitors, families, retired, and relocated urbanites.

The Northern Sphere Continues to Grow

Last June, Desert Gateway shopping center opened with a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club totaling 375,000 square feet just off Interstate 10 at Palm Desert’s north entrance. It will soon be the second largest retail center after Westfield Palm Desert, as it is undergoing Phase II by adding Kohl’s department store, Ashley Furniture, and Circuit City, among other nationalbased retail and business services.

Dinah Shore Drive will extend past Desert Gateway to connect with Portola Avenue this coming spring, opening access to the north sphere’s other commercial and mixed-use land along Interstate 10 from Monterey Avenue to Cook Street.

Significant new growth includes The Venture Commerce Building, a 65,000-square-foot office condominium project that has nearly sold out, according to Dick Baxley of Baxley Properties. Another 10-building complex is slated to open, and there is still more commercial and industrial acreage in the offing. “The beautiful new developments in this area are the best product that exists in the marketplace today,” Baxley says.

Hilton Homewood Suites is approved for The Village at University Park. The Village, a $40-million office and retail center at Cook Street and Gerald Ford Drive, is the first of the 15 non-residential and seven residential projects approved for the 2,100-acre University Park area under construction. Also in the neighborhood is the new Kaiser Permanente Medical Building, a 26,000-square-foot complex that serves the entire valley.

Starwood Vacation Ownership Development at Desert Willow

Starwood will break ground this year on 22 acres in the western area of Desert Willow for a new luxury resort 300-unit vacation ownership property, according to Lauri Aylaian, community development director. This four-star resort will be named The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert and will reflect the surrounding mountains in stone and stucco design.

A 30,000-square-foot clubhouse associated with the vacation resort includes a restaurant and convenience market, lounging and game areas, pool, and volleyball court. “The new project will be a significant contributor to the city’s general fund through transient occupancy tax,” states Ruth Ann Moore, economic development manager.

Affordable Housing

The housing department under the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency provides safe and sanitary affordable housing through a mix of single-family homes and more than 1,000 senior and multifamily rental units.

Falcon Crest on Hovley Lane East is a collection of 93 affordable homes for moderate-income families. A separate 27-unit senior apartment project is also located at Falcon Crest.

In addition, the housing department offers several home improvement programs to qualifying homeowners in the forms of grants, loans, and matching funds to renovate and keep Palm Desert homes in good condition.

Center for Higher Learning

Palm Desert is the center for the valley’s higher education with campuses that offer associate, graduate, and master programs.

College of the Desert (COD) community and associate degree programs have educated thousands of residents and enhanced local business services for more than four decades. COD is undergoing renovation and expansion during the next decade through the Bond B Measure granting $346.5 million for new buildings and infrastructure on the campus. The expansion doubles the capacity for nursing and health science students, along with a new training center for Riverside County police and firefighters. Another innovative program at work in the community is the Institute of Sales and Service Excellence at Westfield Palm Desert, providing assessment and technology training, as well as job placement, for both employers and potential employees.

Sharing the university center site at Cook Street and Gerald Ford Drive, California State University (CSUSB), San Bernardino, and the University of California at Riverside (UCR) now offer baccalaureate and graduate degrees.

CSUSB Palm Desert’s fourth structure in this phase, the 23,000-square-foot Palm Desert Health Science Building, is anticipated to accept new nursing and biology students by fall 2008. The building is named in honor of the city that provided $4.5 million towards its construction and donated the land on which both universities stand. The double-winged, V-shaped building will house classroom, laboratory, and office space for the university’s nursing and healthcare education programs.

Postgraduate students at the UCR Heckmann Center campus are enrolled to earn master’s degrees for business administration in entrepreneurial management and master of fine arts in creative writing programs. The Education Building with its 300-seat theater offers a full slate of conferences, lecture series, seminars, and special events, including topics on business, creative writing, and technology transfer.

Shopping Paradise

Elegant, mile-long El Paseo continues to attract high-end boutiques, art galleries, jewelry stores, home décor, restaurants, and upscale national retailers.

Newest on the block will be Ralph Lauren, Cos Bar (fine skin care and makeup purveyors), Gucci, Optical Shop of Aspen, and Vilebrequin (men’s resort wear from San Tropez). These luxury stores will occupy the Shops on El Paseo, which encompass a number of buildings between Monterey Avenue and Sage Lane, managed by Churchill Pacific. The luxurious, Mediterranean-style architecture and open-air promenades will feature lush foliage and water features. Most recent renovations and expansions include Chico’s to 8,743 square feet, making it a destination flagship store and one of the largest and best performing Chico’s in the country, according to Elizabeth Britton of Churchill Pacific. Connected to Chico’s is its SOMA store of lingerie and intimate wear.

The Gardens on El Paseo is getting ready for a major expansion to the west. Beginning this fall with the approval process to redevelop the former El Paseo Village, plans include expanding the two-level outdoor center with 40,000 square feet of retail space, 16,000 square feet of offices, and two restaurants overlooking the boulevard. Robert Perlmutter of Davis Street Land Company anticipates groundbreaking in 2008 and the expanded Gardens to be open by the end of 2009.

Westfield plans a major refurbishing of the 24-year-old shopping center, and plans are still in the works, according to General Manager Brent Wise. The opening of the longawaited Nordstrom, originally scheduled for spring 2009, will be delayed about a year.

“We are looking at different options and different renovation plans in correlation with Nordstrom,” says Wise. “All are exciting, and we will formulate a plan that works for the mall and the community.” Westfield Palm Desert is currently anchored by Macy’s, Sears, and JC Penney.

Nationally known “big box” retailers are located at Desert Crossing, One Eleven Town Center in central Palm Desert, and Costco adjacent to Desert Gateway. College of the Desert’s weekend Street Fair offers goods and produce from the expected to the exotic in a festive, open-air market. The free Shopper Hopper serves as a shuttle between many of the retail centers, The Living Desert, and hotels in Palm Desert and Indian Wells. El Paseo’s three bright yellow Courtesy Carts whisk customers between its 300 stores and restaurants, making Palm Desert a true shopper’s paradise.

Façade Enhancement Program

The Façade Enhancement Program is a matching grant program to help owners upgrade façades, parking, lighting, landscaping, and signage on older retail and commercial properties and develops viable new businesses along Highway 111 and El Paseo.

An estimated 20 businesses have had “face lifts” since the program began six years ago, according to Justin McCarthy, assistant city manager for redevelopment. “It’s important to note that the private sector, owners of the buildings, invest five to seven times more than the city to renovate and expand Palm Desert commercial buildings.”

The most recent business renovations under the city’s Façade Enhancement Program are a new collection of popular eateries at the corner of Highways 74 and 111 in the Columbia Center that brought new businesses to the city, including Starbucks, Quiznos, and Pick Up Stix.

Energy Initiatives Benefit Projects

A groundbreaking model for other California cities and utilities, the Palm Desert Partnership Demonstration Project has teamed Palm Desert with Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company, and The Energy Coalition in an aggressive conservation campaign.

Palm Desert residences and businesses now can take advantage of thousands of dollars in cash incentives by replacing old heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, refrigeration, and other equipment with new, energy-efficient models. A variety of HVAC options and lighting technologies are available to help businesses run more efficiently. The city’s new Office of Energy Management assists Palm Desert businesses and residents with a variety of energy concerns. Technicians inspect homes and business, provide a list of contractors who can install the recommended measures, along with financial institutions that can assist with funding.

To learn more about business opportunities in the city of Palm Desert, call the economic development division at (760) 346-0611 or visit online at www.cityofpalmdesert.org.

Mayor Richard S. Kelly Mayor Pro Tem Jean M. Benson	Council Members Jim Ferguson Cindy Finerty Robert A. Spiegel	Year Incorporated 1973 Population 49,752	Median Household Income $67,328
		The Venture Commerce Building, one of the dynamic flex-use projects on Dinah Shore Drive. Photo by Chris Miller
		Rendering of Starwood Vacation Ownership Development at Desert Willow.
		Kohl’s, part of Phase II for Desert Gateway Center. Photo by Chris Miller
		The Shops on El Paseo will feature luxury retailers.
		The latest project for the city’s Façade Enhancement Program.