Riverside Officials Pitch City To Industrial Property Owners At Forum

City leaders called Riverside “the best bargain” in the state for prospective industrial and warehouse property owners Thursday morning at a commercial real estate forum co-hosted by the city’s economic development team.

The statement came as part of a larger discussion between City Manager Mike Futrell and Councilmember Steven Robillard about ongoing efforts to attract new businesses to Riverside. According to the pair, six new companies, including Hyundai Rotem, have recently decided to move into the city. The automotive giant’s subsidiary acquired a 44,000 square foot warehouse near the University of California, Riverside. They added there could be a greater need for industrial spaces as the city continues talks with businesses about local incentive programs.

“Manufacturing, particularly in the high-tech sector, the green-tech sector [and] aerospace, does require a large building,” Futrell told The Riverside Record. “What you don’t have is a million 18-wheelers coming in and out every day, and what you do have is many more high-paying jobs that will not be replaced by AI or robots.”

The conference, held in collaboration with commercial real estate brokerage firm SVN Vanguard at La Sierra University’s Zapara School of Business, brought in a series of speakers to discuss the current state of Southern California’s industrial real estate market. About 50 people, a mix of SVN employees, local investors, company representatives and city staff, were in attendance.

The consensus among the presenters was that the industrial sector, which experienced massive growth during the pandemic, has overall been slowing due to a series of factors, including unclear tariff policies and high interest rates. Despite the downturn, they said Southern California remained an irreplaceable part of the supply chain, and the Inland Empire was still the lowest-cost logistics option in the region. 

Cameron Jones, senior vice president at SVN Vanguard and event host, also showcased data aggregated from across Southern California. He found Riverside, and some other Inland Empire cities, were among the top 10 for selling and leasing warehouse properties within 100,000 square feet. 

“[The] Inland Empire is doing really well with attracting businesses and absorbing product,” Jones said. “Orange County is having these challenges because it’s a higher price market, so it’s having its challenges, and so you’re seeing some movement out here to the Inland Empire from operations in Orange County.”

According to a 2025 Riverside commercial real estate report shared by the economic development team, the city has approximately 38 million square feet of industrial space, with a 3% vacancy rate. This, the report said, showcased high demand for warehouses in the city with limited availability.

During the conference, Jones held a sit-down conversation with Futrell and Robillard about why businesses should consider Riverside when looking at locations for a new industrial real estate project. Futrell said that the city was not afraid of big buildings, as they want to fill those spaces with high tech manufacturing and green tech jobs. Because the city operates its own utilities, it’s significantly easier to streamline development processes, Futrell said. He later added that Riverside was within a Foreign Trade Zone, which could be used to eliminate or reduce tariffs. 

Robillard also said that the city has been investing in increasing its workforce for the aerospace and green tech industries. 

“Our city is not only pro-business as far as getting the business approved and built,” he said. “But we’re also partnering with our universities and colleges and our high schools to build that workforce.”

Jen Larratt-Smith, chair of Riverside Neighbors Opposing Warehouses (R-NOW), said she went to the meeting because she was initially concerned that the city was looking to increase the footprint of the logistics industry in the city.

“I’m glad they didn’t lean into the logistics piece of it,” she said. “I found it interesting that we’re trying to do this big push to invest here, but it doesn’t seem like it’s an investor’s market right now.”