‘The attraction is strong.’ Madera’s retail is growing, but experts say there are hurdles

With big name brands like In-N-Out, Smart & Final and Ross moving into Madera, the city’s retail market’s direction is clear.

“The attraction is strong,” said Darren Rose, executive director of the Madera County Economic Development Commission. “We’re working to attract some national retailers who have interest in the area. Everything from food to clothing.”

Rose said national retailers are showing interest in the area in a way they haven’t since before the Great Recession in late 2007. One of the factors driving the renewed interest, experts say, is population growth.

The area around Highway 99 in the city was at the center of several popular store openings in the past year. In eastern Madera County, the rise of master-planned communities like Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo have made way for retail plans along Highway 41.

The bottom line, Rose said, is that demand is growing – shoppers need stores and retailers need space.

It hasn’t always been this way in Madera. Mayor Santos Garcia said that residents have for a long time complained about the types of stores they have access to in town, and many have had to drive to Fresno to do a lot of their shopping.

“But it’s not that easy to get whatever retailer to come in,” he said. “Whatever way you put it, we’re a small city.”

Madera is looking forward to the construction of its own master-planned community, The Villages at Almond Grove, on the city’s northwestern edge. The plans for construction on more than 1,800 acres boast three schools, more than 2 million feet of commercial and office space and over 10,000 homes at full-buildout.

That could take 30 years. But the city’s population, now at about 68,000, has already grown nearly 11% since 2010. Santos expects it to keep growing steadily.

“Rooftops attract retail,” Rose said. “That’s just how it works.”

The number of rooftops in the city now seem to be attractive to national retailers, said former Madera County EDC executive director Bobby Kahn.

“It’s reached population point and a demographic that meets a lot of the national tenants requirements,” he said. “All of a sudden, it seems like it’s one of the hotter markets.”

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In eastern Madera County along Highway 41

Riverstone’s The Market District off Highway 41 and Avenue 12 has already yielded some shops, but the majority of its more than 1 million square feet in commercial space plans are still undeveloped. In Tesoro Viejo, there are plans for several more million square feet of office, retail and commercial space.

Just to the south of the two communities, Valley Children’s Hospital is planning to build retail space on at least 40 acres of its nearly 500-acre campus.

In that area of the county – known as Rio Mesa and planned for the construction of tens of thousands of homes – residents also find themselves driving to Fresno for their shopping. It’s population has grown rapidly since Tesoro Viejo and Riverstone broke ground, but not at a rate that has attracted a grocery store.

Rose said that could be on the verge of changing.

“Depending on the supermarket, I think that they’re very close, if not already over the threshold, to be able to attract a supermarket,” he said. “With the Madera Ranchos, Tesoro Viejo, and even the mountain communities, there’s going to be a growing need for supermarkets and other services from a retail standpoint along that corridor.”

One 34-acre commercial development is already underway on Highway 41 and Road 200. There will be a coffee house, Mexican restaurant and potentially a wellness center and barbecue restaurant, Rose said.

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The Cleveland Avenue corridor off of Highway 99 is the city’s hottest from a retail standpoint, Kahn said.

“All your bigger names, that’s the location they’re seeking,” he said.

That’s where the big store openings in the city have taken place in recent months, with more on the way this year. In-N-Out, Smart & Final, Ross, Big Lots, Marshall’s – they will all be concentrated in the corridor that includes shopping centers like the Madera Marketplace, the Commons at the Madera Fair and Country Club Village.

The downside to that, Kahn said, is that vacancy rates tend to be low in the Madera Marketplace and even lower in the Commons at the Madera Fair.

“It’s somewhat of a challenge to locate some of these tenants because they want to be in your market, but they also have requirements about where in the market they want to be,” he said. “They do their homework and they know what the shopping patterns are.”

The lack of available store fronts is one of the hurdles for retail’s growth in the county, where the demand for vacant spaces sometimes keeps them from even making it to being listed.

“There’s a waiting list on some spaces,” Rose said. “It’s just a very tight market in terms of available space.”

The construction of the 100,000 square-foot North Fork Mono Casino and Resort, which is expected to begin this year, could further attract attention from retailers and open up additional land for retail development. But Rose said creating a new shopping center in the city might take a national retailer deciding to carry out a project in Madera.

He said local government agencies tend to occupy a lot of commercial space for their needs.

Santos disagrees that there isn’t enough commercial space in the city, pointing out that some incoming businesses have built their own stores and other spaces have been converted.

“So there is space available,” he said. “It’s just a matter of businesses wanting to come in and talk to the to the right people to get their needs met.”

Madera retail broker Kirk Atamian, agrees with Rose. He also said moving through the government pipeline is often slow for projects. However, the city is slated for a new shopping center at State Route 145 and Pecan Avenue, an intersection two miles removed from the nearest supermarket and where the construction of hundreds of more homes are expected, Altamian said.

“Madera is growing, it’s economy is improving, it’s diversifying,” Rose said. “Bottom line is entities are looking for space there.”