Client Story: Turning City-Owned Land into Real Estate Opportunity in Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Conceptual Rendering of Downtown Rancho Cucamonga Focus Areas (City of Rancho Cucamonga, CA)
A Real Opportunity in the Market
Cities often sit on land with real estate development potential. That was the case with the City of Rancho Cucamonga, where a 7-acre site across from City Hall had long been envisioned as “future development.” In 2024 and early 2025, we worked with the City on a strategy to turn that idea into a plan backed by market-driven economic and financial insights, grounded in consumer demand, and ready for developer conversations.
Economic Development Strategy 2023
It begins with a plan. And in this case, the City of Rancho Cucamonga has invested a great deal of time and resources to create a very thoughtful economic development strategy (EDS). For more information, please click on the box below.
Source: City of Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Development Focus Areas
The City’s Economic Development Strategy 2023 is a smart decision-making framework that is applied to development of the eight (8) focus areas shown in the map below. As is described in City literature, public and private investment is coordinated in these areas to unlock the economic value of city-owned land and, therefore, maximize community benefits.
Source: City of Rancho Cucamonga, CA
From Strategy to Developer Negotiation
We worked on the City Center focus area. The first step was a market and feasibility analysis to understand residential and hospitality demand. That included incorporating affordable housing requirements. Our analysis addressed not just what’s trending, but what this location could really support. Then we built a custom financial model that the City can use to discuss the site opportunity with developers. It’s a project that’s moving forward with momentum, driven by vision, strategy, and market insights.
Want to Talk Strategy?
Many cities are asking the same questions: What do we do with this land? What are the market-supportable high-and-best fit land uses? And how do we make it financially viable? Of course, we are asked by our private sector land owners and developers to answer very similar questions. If those are your questions too, let’s talk.
