Ontario’s New Model Colony
13 square miles; 8,200 acres; 30,000 homes; 120,000 residents — it all adds up to Ontario’s “New Model Colony.”
Expected to be developed in stages over the next 20 years, Ontario’s New Model Colony will add large swaths of upscale neighborhoods to the predominantly business class city, which has been working at updating its general plan and assembling specific plans for the area since annexing it in 1999.
Located on former — and existing — dairyland that was once part of the San Bernardino County Agricultural Preserve, the NMC lies south of Riverside Avenue, between Euclid and Milliken/Hamner avenues and north of Merrill and Bellgrave avenues, adjacent to Eastvale and Mira Loma in Riverside County.
The first neighborhood — Edenglen — opened this past weekend and consists of 542 residences (277 single family / 307 multi-family) on 160 acres. The builders of this first NMC neighborhood are Brookfield Homes and Standard Pacific Homes.
Situated adjacent to Colony High School, Edenglen comprises 3 tracts of homes (The Cottages, Gatehouse and Veranda) plus 2 townhome/condo tracts (Belcourt and Portico). Sizes range from 1,054 sq. ft. at Belcourt to 4,314 sq. ft. at Veranda. Unique to the development is the use of alleyways to access the garages, leaving many of the homes fronting the streets sans driveways.
Along with the homes comes a neighborhood clubhouse (with outdoor BBQs), community swimming pool and Pinheiro Park, which is named after the family whose dairy farm once stood on the land.
“We’re building a city here, and this is the first community in the city,” (Brookfield Homes president, Adrian) Foley said. “And hopefully, we’ll pave the way for what comes behind it.”
Ontario Daily Bulletin – April 2007
Prices at Edenglen start in the low $300,000s and reach the mid $700,000s.
(2025 UPDATE: Ontario’s “New Model Colony” district was renamed as Ontario Ranch in July 2015)
Related
- Edenglen in Ontario
- Ontario Daily Bulletin – New Model Colony’s first community opens today (April 2007)
- Riverside Press-Enterprise – Builders in Ontario expect long-term trend to overcome housing slump (April 27, 2007)
- Los Angeles Times – A city undeterred by cooling market (April 28, 2007)
- City of Ontario
- Ontario Ranch (formerly known as New Model Colony)
Sources: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (DB-200704, DB-20150709), Riverside Press-Enterprise (PE-20070427) Los Angeles Times (LAT-20070428)
2025 PAGE UPDATE: Removed photo slideshow; removed/updated outdated links to newspaper articles and third-party websites.
